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From the Library of 
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Religion for the times 


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RELIGION FOR THE TIMES 


BY 


J 


v 
LUCIEN CLARK, D.D. 


Assistant Editor of “‘The Christian Advocate” 


NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON 
CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & STOWE 
1892 


Copyright, 1892, by 
HUNT & EATON, 


New Yor«k, 


GONTENTS: 


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4 CONTENTS. 


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XI. 


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Tin CONQUEROR OF DEANE a6. 304 soci os dois «Se ones 


INTRODUCTION. 


Tuis work is not a treatise on Christian evi- 
dences, yet it is confidently believed that it con- 
tains many forcible evidences of the truth and 
substantial value of Christianity. There can be 
no clearer proof of the power and utility of a 
system than the fact that it furnishes real assist-_ 
ance to men in the affairs of this life. ‘“ By 
their fruits ye shall know them.” The Christian 
religion cannot be said to be on trial. It has 
had a long and remarkable career. Its fruits 
are abundant and manifest. If it had wrought 
harm it would have been condemned and cast 
out long ago. Its work has been accomplished 
among all classes and conditions of men. Going 
among the ignorant, the poor, and the degraded, 
it has lifted them up and inspired them with a 
nobler and happier life. Finding its way 
into the palaces of kings, the mansions of the 
wealthy, the studio of the artist, and the study 
of the scholar, it has imparted a new charm to 
their exalted honors, leading rulers to obey the 


6 INTRODUCTION. 


King of kings, the rich to consecrate their gold 
to good uses, the artist to purer inspirations of 
genius, the scholar to more attractive channels of 
investigation, and sanctifying every force it has 
touched to the service of humanity. 

Many among us look on Christianity as a the- 
ory which is beautiful in its conception but im- 
practicable in the affairs of common life. A 
greater error cannot be found. Christianity is 
the most intensely practical system in the world. 
It is nothing unless reduced to practice. Its 
doctrines have no value except as they are ap- 
plied to the practical affairs of men. “ He that 
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them 
not, is like unto a foolish man.” 

Another glaring misconception of Christianity 
assumes that it is merely intended to prepare 
the soul for heaven, but has no mission to man 
with reference to this world. Certainly one 
object of the mission of Christ and his Gospel 
was to bring men to glory, but that is a remote 
object. In accomplishing this end Jesus pro- 
poses to lead his disciples into paths of right- 
eousness and true blessedness on earth. The 
Gospel is adapted to every one in his present 
condition. It is not only for some men, but for 


INTRODUCTION. 7 


all. Itaffords valuable aid in all the pursuits of 
life and furnishes the best foundation and pur- 
est inspiration for all the important institutions 
of society. In work, in study, in business, in 
polities, in statesmanship, in all the professions, the 
Gospel is our chief reliance. For all the temp- 
tations and perils, all the afflictions and trials, all 
the perplexities and uncertainties of this life, it 
is a safe guide. Of the home, the State, the 
Church, the school, it is the chief corner-stone. 
Against the foes of man in society it is our prin- 
cipal weapon. | 
Christianity is eminently adapted to the times 
in which we live. There are some who concede 
that it was once a useful system. They admit 
that is has filled the world with light and lifted 
the nations to a higher plane. But they say it 
has had its day. The world has outgrown this as 
it has other ancient systems. The civilization 
and culture of our times require a new standard 
and system of morals and social improvement. 
This also is an error. Christianity has not only 
disseminated such light as the world needed 
several thousand years ago, but its teachings 
are suited to our timesalso. By these pagan 
nations are to be enlightened and redeemed, and 


8 INTRODUCTION. 


by these our own and other highly civilized 
countries are to move on to higher attainments 
and achievements. We shall never get beyond 
these. We have not measured up to them yet 
by a long distance. The Ethical Society of En- 
gland and America is now busily engaged in 
finding out some better system of morals than 
the Gospel contains. But to what purpose? 
The best community on earth, the best Church 
under the sun, is far below the gospel standard 
of morals. We shall never get beyond this, for 
when society shall measure up to the gospel 
standard the New Jerusalem will descend from 
heaven, and the glory of God and of redeemed 
humanity will fill the earth. 

When we speak of Christianity as the univer- 
sal boon of humanity, only pure Christianity, as 
it is set forth in the Bible and in the hearts and 
lives of the true disciples of Christ, is meant. 
There is a genuine article and there is much 
that is spurious. Corrupt forms of Christianity 
abound, the creeds of which are crowded with 
superstition ; there are Churches which are over- 
whelmed with the spirit of the world. These 
are often called Christianity. All infidel attacks 
are aimed against these misrepresentations and 


INTRODUCTION. 9 


caricatures. When the enemies of Christ have 
shown that some false and corrupt form of his 
religion has opposed education, hindered the 
progress of civilization, oppressed the poor, per- 
secuted the innocent, and condemned the just, 
they imagine that they have made a strong case. 
This is the common error of all forms of oppo- 
sition to the Bible. 

Even in corrupt forms of Christianity some of 
the light of truth may usually be discovered. 
No branch of the Christian Church exists to-day 
entirely destitute of the knowledge of Christ, and 
perfection cannot be claimed for any. All de- 
nominations are more or less tainted with the 
spirit of the world, and in all creeds there is 
some error. Perhaps none have grasped the 
true meaning and comprehended the whole sys- 
tem of the great Teacher with perfect accuracy. 
In proportion as men have approached Jesus in 
their doctrines and in their lives have they be- 
come the salt of the earth. The religion of re- 
pentance, faith, holiness, love, and righteousness 
alone will banish crime and vice and ignorance 
and poverty and fill the world with peace and 
joy and hope. 

It is concerning the relation of Christianity to 


10 INTRODUCTION. 


the practical affairs of this world and the actual 
conditions of men in this life that it is most fre- 
quently and fatally misapprehended. When 
properly understood, this divine system of hn- 
man redemption is found to be a divine scheme 
of life capable of universal application. In its 
preparation the divine Author had in view the 
peculiar needs of man in every period of his 
existence, in every condition possible to him, in 
every pursuit to which he may lawfully address 
himself, and in every emergency which may 
overtake him. 

If the religion of Christ should be correctly 
understood and intelligently practiced the things 
of this world need no longer be divided into 
secular and religious, for all things would be 
religious. Men would serve God as truly and 
do his will as acceptably and glorify his name as 
certainly in business and political life as in the 
holy exercises of the sanctuary. 

If this little book shall enable its readers to 
see more clearly the utility of Christianity in its 
relation to the fundamental interests of human- 
ity the author will have gained his object and 
received his reward. 


RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


CHAPTER I. 
CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PURSUITS. 


Curistraniry is a system of salvation. Its 
mission is to rescue man from sin, to restore him 
to his proper relation with God, and introduce 
him into the kingdom of heaven. But while it 
seeks to save the soul it is also adapted to the 
needs of the body; while it provides for the 
spiritual redemption and improvement of man 
it does not overlook his material interests ; while 
it prepares him for the other world, and teaches 
him to lay up treasures in heaven, it fits him 
also for this life and shows him how to conduct 
the affairs of this world with discretion and suc- 
cess. 

One objection to Christianity has been that it 
ignores the interests of this life and makes no 
provision for the needs of man in this world. 
We are told that it is not a practicable system, 


12 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


and that if its precepts were rigidly carried out 
they would utterly destroy society. Such pas- 
sages of Scripture as the following are cited in 
proof of this position: “Take no thought for 
your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall 
drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put 


On 


“Take no thought for the morrow: for 
the morrow shall take thought for the things of 
itself.” ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures 
on earth.” “Labor not for the meat that per- 
isheth, but for that which endureth unto ever- 
lasting life.” “We look not at the things which 
are seen, but at the things which are not seen: 
for the things which are seen are temporal; but 
the things which are not seen are eternal.” “Go 
sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou 
shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow 
me.” ‘He that forsaketh not all that he hath, 
cannot be my disciple.” 

Some Christian teachers, placing a rigid and 
unreasonable interpretation on this class of 
Scripture passages, have clothed religion with a 
gloomy and repulsive appearance, and those who 
have attempted to follow out this manner of life 
have presented faulty models of Christian char- 
acter, grossly misrepresenting the religion which 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PURSUITS. 13 


they have assumed to exemplify. Many, seeing 
the absurdity of this way of life, have made it the 
basis of an attack on Christianity itself. But this 
isnotChristianity. It isonlyawretched caricature. 

There is an old doctrine which teaches that 
every thing material is essentially evil, and that 
only the purely spiritual is good. Temptations 
enter the soul through the bodily senses; men 
are led astray by worldly enjoyments and grati- 
fications ; evil lurks in all the pursuits and in- 
terests of this world ; every sweet hides a snare. 
Hence certain thinkers have concluded that the 
soul and the body belong to antagonistic realms ; 
that the interests of earth and heaven are essen- 
tially incompatible, and that the highest welfare 
of the soul requires complete abstinence from 
every bodily gratification. This doctrine has 
led multitudes to abandon the world and shut 
themselves up in cloisters where they might 
spend their time in religious exercises and med- 
itation undisturbed by worldly thoughts and 
cares. It has caused religious teachers to place 
secular pursuits under the ban as dangerous and. 
- contaminating, to be shunned by as many as pos- 
sible, and only to be engaged in because life can- 
not be supported without them. 


14 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


This idea of the incompatibility of spiritual 
and secular interests still exists in the Catholic 
Church, and sometimes intrudes itself among 
sincere Protestants. There are not afew among 
us who believe that a high state of spiritual life 
cannot be attained by men of business activity 
and success. They do not expect men to attend 
properly to the secular affuirs of this life and be- - 
come good Christians at the same time. Being 
determined to make the most out of business, 
they take it for granted that high religious at- 
tainments are beyond their reach, and make no 
serious effort in that direction. If this position 
were true Christianity would indeed be an im- 
practicable system. It might answer as a means 
of fitting men for heaven, but would be of no 
value for the earth. It might be possible for 
ministers who devote their entire time to the 
study of religious subjects and the promotion of 
religious interests to become exemplary Chris- 
tians, but laymen, whose occupation is in the 
field, in the marts of trade, and with the stern 
realities of this world, might well despair. For 
the masses who must toil and strive for bread . 
there would be no hope. : 

But this is a gross misrepresentation of Chris- 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PURSUITS. 15 


tianity. So far from being a hinderance it is a 
great help to man in secular pursuits. By for- 
bidding idleness the Bible imposes on all men, ex- 
cept those who are called of God to the ministry 
of his word, the obligation to engage in some 
form of secular business. The law of labor is 
as old as man. When the parents of the human 
race were placed in the garden, and before their 
sin had brought the curse upon the earth, they 
received this commandment from their Creator : 
“Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the 
earth, and subdue it.” The process of subduing 
the earth involves all manner of legitimate secu- 
lar business. The earth is the fruitful source of 
all material blessings needed by man for indi- 
vidual and domestic comfort and for the ad- 
vancement of civilization. In the development 
of these resources all forms of labor, trade, and 
industry are also developed. The Creator has 
not prepared the supply of man’s wants ready 
to his hand. He does not furnish bread already 
baked, raiment already woven, ships, houses, 
railroads, and printing-presses already built. 
But he has placed the erude materials within 
our reach and left us to invent, to discover, and 
to construct according to our needs and resources. 


16 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


To subdue the earth is the work of man. God 
made him to have dominion over every beast of 
the field, every material substance in the earth, 
and every force included in this world. 

“Use the world as not abusing it” is the law 
of Christianity concerning secular pursuits. 
“Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy 
work” is a command as imperative and as im- 
portant as that other which relates to sacred of- 
fices: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it 
holy.” The laws of nature and of Christianity 
perfectly coincide at this as at all other points 
of human life. The toil which is necessary to 
secure the good things of earth is equally neces- 
sary to the development of our own being. The 
development of the resources in the earth and 
of the resources in man is accomplished by the 
same means. Work is as necessary to the health 
and strength and comfort of body and mind as 
it is to the cultivation of the earth. Iadleness, 
which is condemned in the Bible, is condemned 
also by nature. ‘ An idle brain is the devil’s 
workshop” is an old proverb founded on hn- 
man experience.. Steady employment keeps men 
out of mischief. Mariners at sea are never so 
much disposed to complain and mutiny as when 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PuRSUITs. 17 


unemployed. It is said of an old captain that 
when there was nothing else for his men to do 
he would issue an order to “scour the anchor.” 
When the American army under Washington 
camped near Morristown, N. J., in the winter of 
1777, the soldiers, not having received pay for a 
long time, and being destitute of proper food 
and clothing, were on the verge of despair. 
Their commander saw that the danger was ag- 
gravated by the idleness of the men, and issued 
an order to build a fort on the summit of a hill 
back of the town. The ruins of the fort are 
still plainly visible. It has received the signifi- 
eant name of “ Fort Nonsense,” from the fact 
that it could never have been of any possible 
use, and was only built to furnish employment 
for the soldiers. When one considers the im- 
portant purpose the fort really served he is per- 
suaded that it deserved rather to be called “ Fort 
Wisdom.” So happily do the laws of .Chris- 
tianity and the laws of nature concur in pro- 
nouncing anathema on idleness. 

Man is aided by Christianity in secular pur- 
suits in another way. It points out their true 
relation and importance. While they are ex- 
Suga important they are not all-important, 


18 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


nor are they so important as spiritual pursuits 
and interests, They are not to be engaged in as 
an end but as a means to a higher end. ‘“ What- 
soever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name 
of the Lord Jesus.” This is an exalted aim, but 
man is an exalted being. Some men pursue 
their secular occupations for the sake of money, 
some for the sake of bread, some for the sake 
of fame, while others aim at superior intellect- 
ual attainments. But these aims are all too low. 
Placing mere secular interests above all, every 
thing in life becomes disjointed. It is not neces- 
sary that a man should always have definitely 
in mind this high aim. He cannot stop to say 
to himself, when about to take each step, “ [am 
doing this to please God.” In that case he 
could never think of any thing else. Men who - 
are controlled by the love of gold are not always 
thinking about gold. Men who are ruled by 
some base lust are not always thinking about it. 
They are led about unconsciously by this master. 
So the man who prosecutes all his secular pur- 
suits for the glory of God is ruled by this mo- 
tive habitually, and takes no special pains in each 
particular case to remind himself of his duty. 
This principle places secular pursuits in their 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PuRSUITs. 19 


proper order. They are subservient to some- 
thing higher. Plato defrayed his traveling ex- 
penses in Egypt by the profits he derived from 
the oil which he sold during his journey. Sell- 
ing oil was an important business. The pay- 
ment of his expenses was a consideration. But 
his real aim in all this transaction was to store 
his mind with knowledge. His dealing in oil 
, was a means to a higher end—an end higher 
than mere profits. Spimoza maintained himself 
by polishing glasses while pursuing his _philo- 
sophical investigations. His chief aim was knowl- 
edge, but he made use of a trade as a means. 
Man’s chief aim in the world should be to make 
the world better according to the will of God 
who placed him here. This he may do by de- 
veloping his own character, by comforting tlic 
afflicted, by lifting up the fallen, by pouring 
light into the dark places. His secular pursuit 
is a means to this end. By it he maintains him- 
self and family and secures the means to bless 
the world. 

This principle furnishes a just interpretation 
of all those precepts referred to at the beginning 
of this chapter. When Jesus says, “Take no 
thought for the body; labor not for the meat 


20 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


that perisheth,” we can easily understand him in 
the light of this principle. Earthly treasures, 
bodily comforts, the support of this life, are not 
to be the aim of life. They are important, but 
secondary objects of human pursuit. This plan 
of life exalts these pursuits to the highest 
honor. Whoever makes an idol of his business 
and money degrades them both and degrades him- 
self still more, because he lives for them; they . 
are his masters. But whoever makes these pur- 
suits contribute to his maintenance while he is 
really engaged in acquiring knowledge and wis- 
dom, developing character and manhood, im- 
proving the condition of the poor, the ignorant, 
and the afflicted, lifting earth nearer heaven and 
enlarging the kingdom of God, pushes these 
secular affairs to the highest place they are capa- 
ble of filling. Whatever he does is honorable 
and shall prosper. This man shall never fail in 
business, for although his subordinate plans may 
miscarry his chief aim will surely be realized. 
This man will be steady and strong. He will 
never waver nor temporize. Parties may change, 
tides of speculation ebb and flow ; he will go on 
unmoved. History tells of a dark day in New 
England in 1780. The light of the sun was ob- 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PuRSUITS. 21 


scured, and the shadows became so heavy that 
the fowls sought their perches and the people 
became alarmed, supposing the last day had 
come. The Connecticut Legislature was in ses- 
sion at Hartford. One branch of the body ad- 
journed, and a proposition to adjourn was made 
in the other house, when Colonel Davidson arose 
and said: “The day of judgment is either ap- 
proaching or it is not. If it is not there is no 
cause for adjournment; if it is I choose to be 
found doing my duty. I wish, therefore, that 
candles may be brought.” The man of Chris- 
tian principle pursues his secular business in such 
a way that he would have no change to make if 
the last trump should proclaim the approach of 
the last day. 

Far from this standard as men are to-day, we 
are moving toward it. The Christian idea of 
secular business is gaining ground. The time 
will come when all secular forces will be mar- 
shaled in the service of the kingdom of God. 
Men shall no longer toil for money, for fame, or 
even for culture as an end, but for the glory of 
God. The farmer will plow and plant and 
gather into barns for the Lord Jesus Christ. 
The miner will mine the ore, the merchant. will 


22 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


buy and sell, great ships of commerce will cross 
the seas, the printing-presses, railroads, and tele- 
graphs will all be operated in the interest of the 
cause of the Son of God. And even political 
conventions, legislatures, courts of justice, fed- 
eral and municipal governments, will be ad- 
ministered, not for gain or party, but for the 
King of kings and Lord of lords. 

Christianity prohibits all pursuits, however 
lucrative, which degrade men and curse society. 
This much is implied in the principle which has 
just been discussed and is clearly inculeated in a 
multitude of biblical precepts and warnings. 
One who turns his attention to secular pursuits 
has many things to consider. Among these is 
the question of money. Many openings for busi- 
ness present themselves, in which money can be 
made easily and rapidly. But in too many cases 
the business itself is condemned by the teachings 
of the Bible. The traffic in alcoholic beverages 
is a case in point. The use of strong drink and 
trade in liquors are old offenses against sound 
morals and the best interests of society. “ Woe 
unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that put- 
test thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken.” 
The vast fortunes made in the liquor traffic are 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PURSUITS. 235 


wrung from the poor, and represent broken hearts 
and ruined homes rather than honest toil and 
equivalents of substantial good. No man with 
the spirit of Christ in him can engage in such a 
pursuit. 

This traffic is dignified by its advocates with 
the name of business, and the manufacture of 
strong drink is classed among the thriving and 
important industries of our country. Thousands 
of men and millions of capital are employed in 
this pursuit. The only argument that can be 
offered in its favor is that it furnishes the means 
of livelihood to those engaged in it and enables 
them to support their families in comfort, and 
sometimes in luxury. Thieves and robbers 
might say as much for their peculiar occupation. 
There is not a single interest of humanity which 
the liquor traffic does not antagonize. It is the 
enemy of the Church, the school, the home, and 
the State. It injures every branch of useful busi- 
ness in the community where it exists. The 
money expended for intoxicating liquors is di- 
verted from legitimate channels and poured out 
in a channel which spreads almost every form of 
evil among men. If the drunkard can be weaned 
from his cups the money which he was wont to 


24 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


spend in the saloon is henceforth paid to the 
butcher, the baker, the shoe and dry goods mer- 
chant. Every drinking-saloon in the city is an — 
abyss in which the wages of working-men are 
swallowed up, and by which every branch of le- 
gitimate business is seriously damaged. 
Wherever a drinking-house is opened the 
value of property in that neighborhood is ma- 
terially depreciated. But this is not the worst 
feature of this business. If depreciation in values 
and waste of wages were all the curse might be 
borne. But this traffic produces disease, strife, 
and shame. It is the cause of more crimes than 
any other agent. It corrupts politicians, degrades 
politics, prevents wise legislation, and lays its 
hand on courts of justice, driving thein to acts 
of injustice and infamy. The liquor traffic is 
an infamous, barbarous, tyrannical enemy, ut- 
terly incompatible with the interests of society 
and a constant menace to all useful institutions. 
The effort has been made to secure the in- 
dorsement of Christianity in favor of this traffic. 
Passages of Scripture have been cited in support 
of this villainous business. But this isan old trick 
of the advocates of evil. The attempt was often 
made to show that human slavery was compatible 


CHRISTiANITY AND SECULAR Pursuits. 25 


with the teachings of the Bible and the spirit of 
Christianity. The claim that the traffic in in- 
toxicating liquors is not condemned by Chris- 
tianity is still feebly maintained by a few. It is 
not difficult to overthrow this claim. Protestant 
Churches in America, with insignificant excep- 
tions, have squarely denounced the trade in in- 
toxicants. A large number of Roman Catholics 
in this country are indeed now engaged in this 
business, and defend it strenuously. Some priests 
and bishops of that communion hold similar 
views. But these Roman Catholics do not repre- 
sent Christianity in this case. Their course has 
been condemned by a council of their own Church 
held in Baltimore a few years ago. 

The bulwark which has prevented this great 
iniquity from overwhelming our country, has 
been the Christian Church. From Christian 
pulpits and from the Gospel of Christ has gone 
forth a pure sentiment which has saved our cities 
from being completely ruined by strong drink. 
The advocates of the liquor traffic fear and hate 
the Churches and the ministers of the Gospel. 
If they could overthrow these they could have 
their own way. Against the Churches they hurl 
their most violent anathemas. 


26 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES. 


Christianity has triumphed over many forms 
of error, and this also will pass away before its 
conquering sword. It appears to be an hereulean 
task. The Christian sentiment which pronounces 
this traftic unjust and barbarous encounters tre- 
mendous opposition. Vast sums of money in- 
vested, political interests, political parties, the 
depraved appetites of men, all rise up in their 
might and threaten to crush this great idea. 
But it isa true and righteous idea; begotten of 
the Gospel. It has already produced great 
changes in the sentiments of the people, in the 
customs of society, and in legislation, nor will it 
stay until this form of iniquity shall be over- 
thrown. 

Drunkenness was one of the chief counts in 
the indictment which the prophet Isaiah brought 
against Israel, and for which its overthrow was 
decreed. Drunkenness was found among all 
classes. Rulers, judges, priests, and prophets 
staggered through wine. Feasts were polluted, 
legislation was perverted, and religion degraded 
by the prevalence of strong drink. The result 
was destruction. The same result is sure to fol- 
low again when the same causes exist. The 
natural tendency of this so-called business is to 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR Purswur'rs. 27 


produce national decline and ruin. Christianity 
alone has prevented this result in our case. The 
leaders of religion in America are not drunkards. 
The Protestant ministers are not corrupted 
through wine, and the same is true of the Roman 
Catholics with some exceptions. The Protestant 
Churches may not be wholly free from this evil, 
but their members are so far free that, as a class, 
their example is good and wholesome and their 
influence mighty. 

Our rulers are not drunkards. The sentiment 
on this subject, which Christianity has created, 
will not tolerate drunkards in high places. The 
President of the United States, the members of 
our federal Congress, the judges of our courts, 
and the governors of our States are generally 
free from drunkenness. They are doubtless 
swayed in some cases by the influence of the 
liquor power, but in their personal habits they 
are well-nigh all free from drunkenness. This 
is something. It is a great gain on the past. 
It is a glorious promise for the future. It is 
the result of Christian teaching. 

There are other branches: of business con- 
demned by Christianity which need not be named 
or described. They will be readily recognized by 


28 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES. 


every sincere Christian by their baneful influ- 
ence on the individual and on society. 
Christianity promotes secular interests also by 
ineulcating virtues which tend to success. It is 
a fact that wealth is being accumulated in Chris- 
tian nations much more rapidly than anywhere 
else, and that all secular interests prosper in 
those nations far more than they do in pagan 
countries. Wealth is being produced in Chris- 
tian lands in about the proportion of the prev- 
alence of Christianity. In those countries 
where an outward form of Christianity exists 
without much of its spirit and power there is 
progress, but it is not rapid; but where the Bible 
is freely circulated among the people and read 
by them, and where its teachings have a deep 
hold on the popular mind, as in England and 
America, the growth of material possessions 1s 
prodigious. “The statistics of Christian wealth 
are overwhelming. The three great sources of 
gold, Australia, California, and the Ural Mount- 
ains, all belong to Christian nations.” The fa- 
cilities and machinery for the development of 
the resources of nature are in the hands of Chris- 
tian nations. Inventive genius and the spirit of 
inquiry and exploration which are quickened 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PURSUITs. 29 


in the atmosphere of Christian thought are shriv- 
eled up by contact with pagan ideas. China, 
the greatest of the pagan nations, the country 
whose peculiar social virtues have preserved 
the social and national structure for thousands of 
years, is a stagnant nation, having made no 
progress for many centuries. The virtues in- 
culeated by Christianity, industry, honesty, tem- 
perance, and frugality, together with the supe- 
rior intellectual acuteness which Christianity 
imparts, greatly facilitate material progress. 
When we say that religion insures success in 
business we speak in general terms. A single case 
is not a sufficient basis on which to build conelu- 
sions in such matters. Individuals who practice 
all Christian virtues faithfully may make un- 
fortunate investments and lose. They may have 
come into the world under cireumstances unfa- 
vorable to business life and success. Many holy 
men were born in poverty, have been. unfortu- 
nate in every attempt to rise above the plane 
on which their parents moved, and have spent 
their days almost in a condition of indigence 
on account of causes over which they had no 
control. Such cases are exceptions. Thou- 
sands of young men whom the Gospel found in 


30 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


poverty and worthlessness have been taken up 
by the Christian religion, cleansed from their 
vices, and, becoming thrifty, industrious, and 
economical, have accumulated a competence, and 
in many cases, handsome fortunes. This is not 
an unusual experience. Some men in America 
who have laid millions on the altars of Chris- 
tianity for the erection of hospitals, colleges, and 
churches were penniless and worthless when first 
found by the Church. 

We sometimes hear men bemoaning their ill 
luck and insisting that every thing goes against 
them. Dr. Johnson, who was himself frequently 
without means to procure the necessary comforts 
of life chiefly through his own fanlt, once said: 
“All the complaints which are made of the 
world are unjust ; I never knew a man of merit 
neglected; it was generally by his own fault 
that he failed of success.” Washington Irving 
coincides with this view and holds this lan- 
guage: “As for the talk about modest men be- 
ing neglected, it is too often cant, by which 
indolent and irresolute men seek to lay their 
want of success at the door of the public. 
Modest merit is, however, too apt to be inactive, 
or negligent, or uninstructed, merit. Well-ma- 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR Pursuits. 31 


tured and well-disciplined talent is always sure 
of a market, provided it exerts itself; but it 
must not cower at home and expect to be sought 
for. There is a good deal of cant, too, about the 
success of forward and impudent men, while 
men of retiring worth are passed over with neg- 
lect. But it usually happens that those forward 
men have that valuable quality of promptness 
and activity without which worth is a mere in- 
operative property. A barking dog is often 
more useful than a sleeping lion.” 

In our own country, while some are pinched 
with poverty on account of misfortunes which 
were beyond their control, most of those who 
do not succeed in their secular undertakings and 
fail to gather from them a comfortable support 
have been reduced to their present embarrassing 
position by their own indolence or vices. tich- 
ard Cobden, one of the best friends the work- 
ing-men in England ever had, said on one occa- 
sion: “The world has always been divided into 
two classes — those who have saved and those 
who have spent—the thrifty and the extrava- 
gant. The building of all the houses, the mills, 
the bridges, the ships, and the accomplishment 
of all other great works which have rendered 


32 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


man civilized and happy, have been done by the 
savers, the thrifty; and those who have wasted 
their resources have always been their slaves. 
It has been the law of nature and of providence 
that this should be so; and I were an impostor 
if I promised any class that they would advance 
themselves if they were improvident, thought- 
less, and idle.” These statements are even more 
generally applicable in America than in England. 
There is a temptation to extravagance and im- 
providence which many have no disposition to 
resist. They wish to appear wealthy when they 
are not, to live in fine houses, flourish in costly 
array, fare sumptuously, and enjoy the tempting 
luxuries which are constantly flaunted in their 
faces when they have no means wherewith to 
procure them honestly. This is the explanation 
‘of the poverty of multitudes. 

Others indulge in expensive and hurtful vices 
and wonder why their lot should be so hard. 
There is no cause for wonder. Those who vio- 
late the law, which is at once a law of Chris- 
tianity and a law of nature, have no reason to 
expect prosperity. Samuel Smiles tells us that 
on a certain occasion a deputation waited on 
Lord John Russeil to make an appeal for a re- 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR Pursuits. 33 


duction of taxes levied on working-men in En- 
land, and received a respectful reply, in which 
these sentences occur: “ You may rely upon it 
that the ‘government of this country durst not 
tax the working classes to any thing like the 
extent to which they tax themselves in their ex- 
penditure upon intoxicating drinks alone.” The 
heavy taxes men levy on themselves for hurtful 
vices cause the principal part of the poverty of 
England and America. If we could get rid of 
these extravagant vices, the effects they produce, 
and the institutions of Satan in which they are 
fostered, laboring men, mechanics, merchants, 
those engaged in professional pursuits, and all 
classes of men and women who follow secular 
callings would thrive and prosper. It is one 
aim of the Gospel to overthrow these strong- 
holds of wickedness. 

It sometimes happens that men who adhere 
rigidly to Christian principles in the pursuit of 
their secular calling fail to accumulate property 
so rapidly as some of their neighbors who ig- 
nore religion. One may even lose heavily under 
certain circumstances by his scrupulous observ- 
ance of Christian teachings. While others make 
millions in an ineredibly short time with little 


9 
9) 


34 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


effort, the honest Christian may plod on, toil hard, 

and lay up nothing. But character is more valu- 

able than money. One cannot afford to gain the 

whole world and lose his own soul. He makes 

a bad bargain who gives up his honesty for one 

moment in order to make millions of money. 

Character is the Christian’s principal fortune. 

The Christian poet gives this account of the loss 

he sustains who barters honesty for gold: 

“ Yet there be others that will truckle to a lie, 

Selling honesty for interest ; 

And. do they gain? They gain but loss, a little cash with 
scorh. 

Behold the sorrowful change wrought upon a fallen nature: 

He hath lost his own esteem and other men’s respect; 

For the buoyancy of upright faith he is clothed in the heavi- 
ness of cringing. 

For plain truth, where none could err, he hath chosen tortuous 
paths ; 

In lien of his majesty of countenance, the timorous glances of 
servility ; 

Instead of freedom’s honest pride, the spirit of a slave.” 

Christianity contributes much to make secular 

pursuits a blessing to man by preventing those 

evils which lawful occupations tend to produce. 

The natural tendency of secular affairs is to de- 

grade those who engage in them, and this tend- 

ency must be overcome by proper instruction 


and inward spiritual forces. In the word of God 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR Pursuits. 35 


the dangerous tendencies of worldly engage- 
ments are clearly pointed out and notes of warn- 
ing clear and strong are sounded. “ They that 
will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and 
into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown 
men in destruction and perdition.” “The cares 
of the world and the deceitfulness of riches ” 
constitute the thorns and briers which, according 
‘to the parable of the sower, grow up and choke 
the good sced of the kingdom. Among the 
‘guests invited to the feast of spiritual good pre- 
pared by the King of heaven for his earthly 
subjects many make excuses, one saying, “I have 
bought a farm,” while another pleads,“ I have 
bought five yoke of oxen.” Ungodly pursuits 
‘out of which flow only corruption and destruc- 
tion ruin those who engage in them. But other 
secular vocations which are necessary to the sup- 
port of life and the improvement of the race are 
beset with snares. They take such a deep hold 
of the minds of men as to cause them to forget 
the higher spiritual good.. - . soni 
What shall we do, therefore? Shall we flee 
from secular life altogether and shut ourselves 
in cloisters to meditate and pray? If all should 
do this what would become of man? There is 


a6 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


a better way. The Gospel makes provision for 
those who engage in honorable and useful pur- 
suits, that they may not only escape the snares 
that lurk within them, but may be more useful 
and happy and holy than they could be if they 
should abandon secular life altogether. The 
Christian Sabbath is an institution admirably 
adapted to counteract the evil tendencies of 
business life. The business man needs period- 
ical rest from toil and from the cares of business. 
This is a demand of his physical and mental 
constitution as well as his spiritual interests. The 
Sabbath furnishes hiin an opportunity to rest. 
Nor does this suspension of business activity in- 
volve any financial loss. - Here again the laws of 
nature and of Christianity coincide. Experi- 
ments covering a vast multitude of cases, made 
at different times and in different callings, prove 
that men will accomplish more and do their 
work better by resting one day in seven than by 
working every day in the year. This statement 
applies to laborers, mechanics, merchants, pro- 
fessional men, and all other classes. 

The rest which men require one day in seven 
‘is not sleep or absolute idleness, but rather a sus- 
pension of secular toil and care and the employ- 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR Pursuits. oF 


ment of the mind on spiritual subjects. The 
mind needs change. The cares and thoughts 
which belong to secular vocations should be dis- 
missed and the interest of the soul and of eter- 
nity carefully considered. Thus the cultivation 
of the moral nature, the study of the things of 
God, which are supremely important, receive the 
attention of the mind. If man had no Sabbath 
his spiritual nature would not be cultivated. 
Secular pursuits instead of a blessing would be- 
come a curse, because they would oceupy the 
thoughts incessantly. So important has the 
Christian Sabbath been found in its relation to 
secular affairs that in the United States laws 
are made which require men to abstain from 
ordinary business on that day. These laws may 
be intended in part to advance the canse of re- 
ligion, but primarily they have been enacted in 
the interest of the State and secular affairs. The 
evils growing out of the exclusive occupation of 
the mind with business are counteracted by the 
law of the Sabbath. 

Other evils still grow ont of covetousness. 
This is the besetting sin attendant on secular 
pursuits. Moved by this disposition many en- 
gage in occupations which bring no advantage to 


38 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


society, but which in many cases produce incal- 
culable mischief. Mercenary motives lie at the 
bottom of all such pursuits as the slave-trade, 
the liquor-trade, and the opium-trade. The same 
spirit inspires men to conduct other branches of 
business in such a way as to injure their neigh- 
borg and trample on the laws of God so far as 
they stand in the way of money-making. Cov- 
etousness leads the rich to oppress the poor in 
their wages, to form combinations of capital, not 
for the benefit of men, but solely for the purpose 
of making financial gains. Gigantic corporations 
wield tremendous power, and too often it is used 
to-control legislation in the interests of wealth, 
to influence courts of justice, to support injustice, 
and to corrupt society. Much might be said 
truthfully in favor of combining capital; such 
corporations might be a great blessing to the 
poor, to working-men, and to the State, but the 
dangers attending the concentration of so much. 
power in a few hands are so many and so great 
that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye 
of a needle than for these great corporations to 
administer their affairs so as to stand approved 
before the bar of Christian justice. 

- Henee arises the strife between labor and cap- 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR Pursuits. 39 


ital, an evil which grows more alarming with 
the advance of civilization and the development 
of secular industries. The solution of the labor 
problem is not found in any scheme of equaliz- 
ing the possessions of all citizens. Many fantas- 
tic theories have been put forth and ably advo- 
cated, by which it is proposed to prevent the 
combination of wealth, to limit the accumulation 
of property by individuals, and to put an end to 
poverty by legal enactment or by violent attacks 
on the rich. To discuss these propositions 
is needless. This great reform will never be 
achieved until capitalists and laborers alike stand 
on the principles of Christianity. Offensive 
distinctions will be abolished when men learn 
that the highest distinction is to be a man of 
pure and spotless character and to do the most 
possible good to others. When benevolence 
shalltake the place of covetousness, when men 
fully understand the meaning of personal re- 
sponsibility, when the golden rule becomes the 
rule of business, the labor question will be 
sulved. Political economists, statesmen, and 
philosophers may wrestle with this gigantic 
problem for centuries, but they shall not find a 
solution until they are willing to sit at the feet 


40 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


of the peasant Teacher of Gulilee and learn of 
him. He who spake as never man spake has 
pointed out the evils and dangers and cure of 
covetousness, “Take heed, and beware of covet- 
ousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the 
abundance of the things which he possesseth. 
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, the - 
ground of a certain rich man brought forth 
plentitully: and he thought within himself, say- 
ing, What shall I do, because I have no room 
where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This 
will I do: I will pull down my barns and build 
greater ; and there will I bestow all my fruits 
and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 
Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many 
years: take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy 
soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall 
those things be, which thon hast provided? Sois - 
he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is 
not rich toward God.” 

Christianity does not take the side of the rich 
against the poor, nor of the poor against the — 
lich. It cannot be pressed into the service of 
capital or labor as partisan interests. It ignores 
parties and exalts principles. It points out the 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR Pursuits. 41 


dangers of wealth and denounces unmercifully 
the crimes of the covetous and oppressive wealthy 
classes. “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and 
howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments 
are moth-eaten. .Your gold and silver is cank- 
ered; and the rust of them shall be a witness 
against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were 
fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the 
last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who 
have reaped down your fields, which is of you 
kept back by fraud, erieth:.and the cries of 
them which have reaped are entered into the ears 
of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in 
pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have 
nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.” 

At the same time the causes of poverty are 
pointed out, and it is clearly taught that in many 
cases the poor are the cause of their own want. 
The law that “if any will not work neither shall 
he eat” is emphasized, and the various dishonest 
devices by which employees take advantage of 
employers find no encouragement in the Bible. 
Much less does Christianity favor any scheme of 
abolishing the inequalities which exist among 
men. The unequal distribution of the good 


42 * JRRELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


things of this world is not so easily explained as 
many suppose. The tendency of Christianity is 
to abolish all artificial and odious distinctions, 
but it recognizes the fact that some are rich and 
others poor, and teaches men to be content with 
their lot. The virtues of Christianity tend to 
elevate and improve the condition of the poor in 
material things, and, what is better still, they 
forthwith elevate the poorest mortal who pos- 
sesses them to become the peer of the wealthiest 
noble in the sight of God. Yea, more, the beggar 
who is righteous enters heaven attended by angel 
bands, while the wealthy worldling without 
spiritual wealth sinks to hell and is shut up in 
everlasting despair. 

The cure of covetousness is found in that 
spiritual change which the word and Spirit of 
God produce in the hearts of all true followers 
of Christ. The heart, out of which evil thoughts 

“and covetousness proceed, is purified so that 
streams of benevolence and love flow out. Christ 
dwells within. That soul is rich toward God, 
rich in faith, in love, in kindness, in good works. 
He does not ignore this world, but sets a higher 
estimate on the world to come. He does not 
despise secular pursuits, but engages in them 


CHRISTIANITY AND SecuuaR Pursuits. 43 


with an eye single to the glory of God. He 
does not forget nor neglect his business, but con- 
siders also the interests of others. Envy, jeal- 
ousy, malice, have no place in his heart, and 
unholy strifes for pre-eminence are despicable in 
his eyes. | 

Christianity promotes prosperity in secular 
pursuits by opening channels of usefulness into 
which the profits of business may be poured. So 
long as men have no higher aim than mere 
money-making 


= 
on their lusts, their pursuits do not rise to a 


or accumulating wealth to spend 


position of honor in their owneyes. Such men 
are disgusted with their own occupations wlien 
they consider the degraded channels into which 
the results are emptied. But our religion shows 
men nobler uses for their money. Among the 
first uses to which money may be devoted is the 
support of one’s self and family. This is a 
Christian requirement. One who fails to do this 
is “worse than an infidel.” The comforts of 
life which money procures are needful for the 
higher pursuits of the soul and the spirit. 

“The poor ye have always with you.” The 
spirit of benevolence which relieves the needy 
with the proceeds of one’s own toil and effort is 


44 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


one of the most exalted virtues, of Christianity 
and allies its possessor most intimately with — 
the Saviour of the world. This spirit of 
Christian benevolence and usefulness has laid 
many millions of dollars on the altar of Christ’s 
Church for the aid of the afflicted and unfortu- 
nate, for the spread of the Gospel in all lands, 
and for the cause of Christian education. With 
his money the Christian carries ont the purpose 
of Jesus Christ to redeem the world from igno- 
rance and sin and relieve the suffering sons of 
men. When we consider what grand and holy 
enterprises inoney has carried forward it appears 
strange that sensible men should despise money, 
speak lightly of secular pursuits, or imagine that 
wealth in itself is an evil. Upon the aceumula- 
tion and right use of money depends the prog- 
ress of the kingdom of God in the earth. If 
the principles of Christianity should be adopted 
by all professing Christians in the world such a 
tide of power would be turned into the channels 
of missionary and other Christian enterprises as 
would make the world tremble and the deserts 
sing for joy. 

So much for the influence of Christianity on 
secular pursuits. Let us turn the subject around 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PurRsvITs. 45 


and look at the other side. Secular pursuits aid 
in the development of Christian character and 
in working out a Christian life. The active pur- 
suit of business is favorable to religious growth. 
Business life furnishes a fine test of religious 
principle. One who spends his entire life about 
sacred offices may play the hypocrite much more 
successfully than a business nan. He may, in- 
deed, deceive himself with regard to his relig- 
jous character and attainments more easily than 
the man whose daily life is spent in secular pur- 
suits. No sooner does the professing Christian 
enter on a business career and come in contact 
with the world than his principles are tried as 
gold is tried in the fire. Why is it that we hear 
of so many humiliating falls of business men 
who profess to be Christians? The newspapers 
abound in stories of Stnday-school superintend- 
ents, stewards, elders, deacons, prominent mem- 
bers of churches, who held the position of bank 
president, cashier, or teller, who filled the office 
of treasurer of some building and loan asssocia- 
tion, detected in the crime of appropriating to 
their own use funds which belonged to others, or 
engaging in reckless speculation, gambling in 
wheat or pork or oil, have lost large sums not their 


46 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


own. What is the explanation, if Christianity 
really makes men true and good and strong? It 
is because the religion of these men was an af- 
fair of Sunday and not of every day in the 
week; it was a system of ceremonies and not of 
principles; it was an affair of outward exercises 
and not of inward life; it was a profession but 
not a practice. Every Christian who engages in 
secular pursuits will be tested as thoroughly, if 
not so severely,as the martyrs were tested. He 
will be sifted as wheat. 

Secular pursuits also furnish opportunities for 
spiritual victories of the most sublime and heroic 
character. We are commanded to “fight the 
good fight of faith.” We sing 

‘Must I be carried to the skies 
On flowery beds of ease, 


While others fought to win the prize, 
And sailed through bloody seas?” 


And we get the impression that all the Christian 
heroism belonged to the times when men’s lives 
were imperiled by making a confession of Christ. 
But every business man has a chance to contend 
for the faith on a bloodless but decisive and im- 
portant field. On entering business life one 
meets at the outset sharp competition, fierce 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PURSUITS. 44 


struggles for gain, in the midst of which he 
witnesses the dishonest methods by which his 
neighbors hope to rise, the overreaching, the de- 
ceit, the supreme selfishness which characterize 
the transactions of nen. To mere human judg- 
ment it would appear impossible to achieve suc- 
cess without using the same methods, and in this 
verdict most of the business advisers concur. To 
stand almost alone, to believe in the eternal 
principles of justice and truth and act on thei 
requires courage and character. In secular pur- 
suits one will often be wronged, and the tempta- 
tion to retaliate will be too strong for human 
nature to resist. But the apostle says, “Be not 
overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” 
And God has not given a commandinent without 
furnishing the ability to keep it. Relying on 
this strength the Christian business man wins a 
victory worth more to him and to the world 
than Waterloo. He not only overcomes his com- 
petitor, but himself also, and this is the greatest 
victory of all; for “greater is he that ruleth his 
own spirit than he that taketh a city.” 
Opportunities to make large sums of money 
by engaging in questionable pursuits, by conduct- 
ing legitimate pursuits in a dishonest way, or by 


48 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


introducing doubtful elements into his regular 
business frequently stare the merchant in the 
face. The alternative is often presented him to 


violate the precepts of Christianity or lose many 
important customers. Thousands are carried 
down by this tide of dishonest competition and 
speculation. One man is tempted by the large 
gains of the liquor trade; another by one of the: 
various schemes for making money by trading 
in futures; another by some other form of gam- 
bling under the name of business. Many are 
prevented from taking a stand against gigantic 
evils and aiding important reforms by the fear 
that they wiil lose the trade of those who do not 
sympathize with such movements. The Christian 
woman who keeps a boarding-house to support 
herself and fatherless children is exposed to se- 
vere temptations when from principle she refuses 
to use wine on her table. Her business declines. 
Wealthy applicants turn away from her house 
with scorn when they learn that she carries her 
temperance principles into her business. In all 
these cases men and women have an opportunity 
to let their light so shine before men that others 
may see their good works. While a man’s re- 
ligion may cause him to lose money in such a 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR Pursutrts. 49 


case, his secular business will prove a help to his 
religion by affording him the best opportunities 
in the world for doing good by self-denial and 
personal sacrifice. One can advance the cause 
of truth and at the same’ time advance his own 
character by being true to his principles when it 
costs something to do so more than he can do in 
any other way. “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, 
always abounding in the work of the Lord, for- 
asmuch as ye know that your labor in the Lord 
is not in vain.” 

Christianity and secular pursuits are not antago- 
nistic, but mutually helpful when properly un- 
derstood. They are not to be separated. It will 
not answer for the Christian to confine his re- 
ligion to Sunday and the church. Sacred days 
and sacred places have their uses, but the relig- 
ion which never goes beyond them is not true 
Christianity. Religion belongs to every day in 
the week, to every place where one has a right 
to go, and to every occupation in which one can 
properly engage. There is a place for religion 
in politics, in the learned professions, and in all 
kinds of secular business. Whether one pub- 
lishes a newspaper, writes a book, manages a 
factory, or plows a field he can do it in the name 

4 


50 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


of the Lord Jesus and observe the principles of 
Christianity. No true Christian will continue 
to belong to any corporation which violates 
Christian principle in the prosecution of its af- 
fairs. Not long since a Christian man who 
owned a large amount of valuable stock in a 
railroad immediately resigned his office in the 
company, sold his stock, and withdrew from the 
corporation when it decided to run trains on 
Sunday. A nominal Christian may continue to 
hold membership in a company which publishes 
a Sunday newspaper, runs Sunday trains need- 
lessly, or conducts other Sunday business for 
gain, but no real Christian can. 

There is an offensive way of introducing re- 
ligion into business which we sometimes witness. 
Common sense is as important in the manage- 
ment of business on Christian principles as it is in 
other things. Cant is not only offensive to those 
who do not respect religion but also to sensible 
Christians. It is one of the principal hinder- 
ances in the way of religion. But zeal, firmness, 
and frankness in avowing and advocating one’s 
religious convictions in connection with secular 
affairs will win the respect, not only of Christian 
people but also of all sensible men. 


CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR PURSUITS. 51 


Ministers are not to be frightened from the 
duty of denouncing corruption and advocating 
Christian teachings in connection with secular 
affairs by the outery against political preaching. 
Those who do not like to hear the peculiar sins 
of their party or their trade rebuked become 
exceedingly zealous for religion and demand 
that preachers should preach the Gospel and 
let business and politics alone. There is a sense 
in which this is trne and another sense in which 
it is false and pernicious. It is no part of a 
minister’s mission to become a politician or a 
partisan, or to turn aside from gospel themes to 
discuss secular affairs in a secular way. It is 
his duty to rise so far above party strife and the 
secular spirit as to speak the truth to ail parties 
without partiality and without hypocrisy. There 
is nothing corrupt men and demagogues dread so 
much asthe plain truth froma pure pulpit. The 
two-edged sword of the Gospel wounds designing 
men who for their own selfish ends seek to cor- 
rupt the streams of secular life more deeply 
than any thing else. Nothing will so effectually 
reform the abuses of politics and business as the 
faithful preaching of the word of God. 

Never was there a time when secular pursuits 


52 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


occupied so large a place in the thought and life 
of the human race as they do to-day. The im- 
provements made in agriculture, manufacturing, 
and commerce within the last quarter of a cent- 
ury are amazing. The inventions and discov- 
eries of modern times have laid open such stores 
of wealth as the world never dreamed of before, 
and provided facilities whereby ten men may do 
as much work as hundreds could accomplish in 
the time of our fathers. In proportion to the 
increase of wealth has been the growth of per- 
plexing social and economical questions. Inven- 
tions of dishonest methods of money-making 
have kept pace with the useful inventions of the 
age. The cry of distress arising from working- 
men and women who have been oppressed in 
their wages, and from homes that have been 
wrecked by heedless speculation or crushed by 
bitter disappointment, fills the air. The con- 
ditions of these stirring and exciting times call 
loudly for the application of the teachings of 
Christ and his apostles. Ministers, churches, and 
the religious press have a grand opportunity to 
bless the world by holding forth the light of the 
Gospel, by which these struggling masses may 
see the way of safety and true success. 


Tur Brest System or MorA.s. 53 


CHAPTER IL. 
THE BEST SYSTEM OF MORALS. 


Tux distinction between right and wrong is 
both real and exceedingly important. There is 
in the human mind a faculty whose peculiar 
office it is to recognize this distinction, to con- 
strain us to do right and restrain us from the 
wrong. If it were proper to exalt one faculty 
above another we should be inclined to give to 
the conscience the highest honor. To quicken, 
enlighten, and develop the conscience and _ ac- 
quire the habit of quickly discerning and cheer- 
fully choosing the right and promptly and _ per- 
emptorily rejecting the wrong is the highest form 
of culture. Character is more important than 
knowledge or any other possession or quality. 
To call one conscientious is to accord to him the 
highest praise, to say of him that he is con- 
scienceless or unscrupulous is to visit him with 
the deepest censure. 

Although this distinetion is real and of the 
first importance, yet the task of finding out what 


54 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


is right and what is wrong has not proved an 
easy one. No doubt the conscience was origi- 
nally, and in the intention of the Creator, fully 
adequate to this task. But, like other mental 
faculties, it has been perverted and abused until 
its decisions are neither reliable nor authorita- 
tive. Men are not restrained from evil ways by 
the inward light which appears to have been de- 
signed for that purpose. The whole world 
licth in wickedness,” notwithstanding the in- 
ward admonitions and restraints of whicli all are 
conscious. 

The solution of this perplexing problem has 
occupied the most serious thought of the wisest 
and best men of all ages. Philosophers, poets, 
and sages have devoted themselves to the work 
of finding a basis of morals and adequate mo- 
tives to secure a high grade of moral character 
and conduct, and have given to the world the 
results of their studies. Nota few of them 
have proposed excellent rules and precepts, but 
it has been found more difficult to persuade men 
to conform to these rules than to frame the rules 
themselves. ‘The teachings of Christianity have 
done more to effect substantial and wide-reach- 
ing reformation and improvement in human 


Tur Best System or MoRALs. 55 


society than any other system. This it has: 
accomplished by the superiority of its moral pre- 
cepts, by the perfection of the model of moral 
character and conduct presented in Jesus Clirist, 
its great author, and by the means of moral 
reformation which it proposes. | 

_ And first we find in the Bible the purest and 
safest moral precepts, the most elevated doctrines 
of human conduet and character, and the funda- 
mental principles of justice on which the most 
substantial and enduring social fabrics have been 
constructed. 

At the foundation of all the moral precepts 
of Christianity lies one great principle, namely, 
love. According to. the New Testament all 
righteousness, both negative and positive, pro- 
eeeds froin this fundamental element of human 
character. This prirciple is capable of uniting 
all men in the highest form of social life. It 
will abolish all strife, revenge, jealousy, rebell- 
ion, impurity, and war. ‘Love worketh no ill 
to his neighbor.” ‘ Love is the fulfilling of the 
law.” “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, 
with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself. 
On these two hang all the law and the proph- 
ets.” “Though I speak with the tongues of 


56 RELIGION FOR THE ‘LIMES. 


men and of angels, and have not love, I am be- 
come as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and 
understand all mysteries and all knowledge ; and 
though I have all faith, so that I could remove 
mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. 
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the 
poor, and though I give my body to be burned, 
and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 
Love suffereth long and is kind; love envieth 
not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 
doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her 
own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 
rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the 
truth ; beareth all things, believeth all things, 
hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love 
never faileth.” 

On this law of love hang all the negative 
precepts of Christianity. To this class belong 
the prohibitions of the Decalogue. These Ten 
Commandments cover those specific acts which 
chiefly interfere with social order and peace. 
But it will be observed that the Bible begins its 
correction of human evils by adjusting man’s 
relation to his Creator. Pagan philosophers and 
moralists have considered the most important 


Tue Best System or MorRALs. 57 


relation of the individual to be that which he 
sustains to society or the civil commonwealth. 
Hence the State has been the center about which 
they would make the conduct of men revolve. 
For this reason pagan morality, always and every- 
where, distinguishes in favor of the strong 
against the weak and unfortunate. The woman, 
the infant, the invalid, the insane, the poor, have 
no rights. Infanticide was permitted and en- 
couraged, the poor were treated as dumb brutes, 
labor was despised. But Christianity considers 
man’s relation to God as the highest and most 
important, and makes humanity revolve about 
this great center. Let man’s relation to his 
Creator be adjusted first, and all others will fol- 
low in beautiful order. That love which deter- 
mines character and conduct must first of all 
bind the soul to God. Man owes something to 
the Supreme Ruler, the Almighty Father, as 
well as to civil rulers and human relations. 
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” 
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven 
image.” “Thou shalt not take the name of the 
Lord thy God in vain.” “ Remember the Sab- 
bath day, to keep it holy.” 

Then follow in proper order those prohibitions 


58 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


which relate to our conduct toward men, includ- 
ing parents first, because, next to God, we owe 
them the highest reverence and implicit obe- 
dience ; then all men, as occupying a common 
level with ourselves. ‘“ Honor thy father and 
thy mother.” “Thou shalt not kill”? “Thou 
shalt not commit adultery.” “Thou shalt not 
steal.” “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” 
“Thou shalt not covet.” Precepts so definite, — 
so safe, so far-reaching in their application and 
effects, so salutary in their influence, have never 
been found in the writings of uninspired men, 
But the morality of the Bible is not merely 
negative. The love which Christianity requires 
not only restrains its possessor from invading 
the rights of his neighbor, but leads him out to 
do guod. The obligation to do good is as sacred 
as that which forbids doing harm. In the Deca- 
logue we have a system of wholesome prohibi- 
tions, but the New Testament abounds with 
positive commandments. The Sermon on the 
Mount contains the most sublime and perfect . 
positive moral precepts ever proposed in human 
language, concluding with theauthoritative decla- 
ration of Jesus that whosoever heareth these 
sayings and doeth them sliall be likened unto a 


Tur Bxssr System or MorA.,s. 59 


wise man, but whosoever heareth and doeth them 
not shall be likened unto a foolish man. 

The moral precepts of Christ go further 
still. He not only prohibits wrong-doing and 
enjoins well-doing, but commands his disciples 
to go beyond the requirements of justice in do- 
ing good and giving aid. Instead of contending 
strenuously for their rights, his followers are 
taught to give the world an example of yielding 
up their just dues for the benefit and comfort of 
others. “If any man will sue thee at the law, 
and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak 
also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a 
mile, go with him twain. Give to him that ask- 
eth thee, and from him that would borrow of 
thee turn not thou away.” Others have taught 
men to restrain their desires within the limits of 
justice, to take no more than the law allows, and 
to give the last farthing that is due. But Jesus 
leads his disciples beyond the strict requirements 
of civil law, and teaches them to rise above the 
demands of strict justice, to give without ex- 
pecting to receive a return, to lend without re- 
quiring security or compensation. No reason- 
able man will interpret these precepts in such a 
way as to render the transaction of secular busi- 


60 RELIGION FOR THE TiMmEs. 


ness impracticable, or to compel the Christian to 
place his possessions at the bidding of every 
unscrupulous rogue. The great Teacher has in : 
view the benevolent impulses of a divine love 
implanted in the huinan breast, and points out 
its certain tendency to lift its possessor above 
civil government and legal processes and enable 
him to live a life of benevolence and blessing to- 
ward his neighbors. 

Christian morality goes beyond the external 
conduct, extending to and including the thoughts 
of the heart. Love, which is the fundamental 
principle of this morality, regulates the inner 
life of the soul. In his interpretation of the Ten 
Commandments, Jesus makes the principle of — 
righteousness apply to inward dispositions. 
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of 
old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever 
shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 
but I'say unto you, That whosoever is angry with 
his brother without a cause shall be in danger of 
the judgment. . . . Ye have heard that it was 
said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit 
adultery: but I say unto you that whosoever 
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath com- 
mitted adultery with her already in his heart.” 


Tuer Brest System or MorAts. 61 


These and similar precepts show the funda- 
mental character of Christian morality. Chris- 
tianity seeks to regulate not merely human deeds 
and words, but the human heart itself. It is not 
enough to lay restraints on men concerning 
specific acts, the evil contemplated can only be 
averted by purifying the fountain of life. It is 
useless to attempt to force good deeds out of a 
character in which good dispositions do not 
exist. “A good tree cannot bring forth evil 
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good 
fruit. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs 
of thistles?” It isa bootless task to set about 
purifying the stream while the fountain is cor- 
rupt, or regulating the seeing of the eye while the 
organ is distorted. “If, therefore thine eye be 
single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But 
if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of 
darkness.” “ Keep thine heart with all diligence, 
for out of it are the issues of life.” Christian 
morality proceeds on the basis of regulating the 
character first and the conduct afterward. 

The Christian system ineludes all men among 
those to whom we are bound by its moral obli- 
gations. In this it differs radically from all 
other systems. Love, which is the fountain 


62 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


of Christian morality, is not mere natural affec- 
tion, but a divine principle which extends to all 
classes. The weak and helpless, who were de- 
spised and neglected under other systems of 
social justice and order, are made special objects 
of care and tenderness under the system of 
Christ. Pagan philosophers and moralists coun- 
tenanced and encouraged infanticide and oppres- 
sion of women, but Christianity has thrown its 
protection about human life so as to render in- 
fants secure wherever it bears sway and to ele- 
vate women to freedom and honor. 

Strangers are made the objects of considerate 
attention. Men are not slow to love their friends, 
but Jesus teaches us to extend our regards to 
those who have placed us under no special obli- 
gations by deeds of kindness. “If ye love them 
which love you, what reward have ye? do not 
even the publicans so? And if ye salute your 
brethren only, what do ye more than others ? 
do not even the publicans so?” “ When thou 
makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, 
nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsman, nor thy 
rich neighbors ; lest they also bid thee again, and 
a recompense be made thee. But when thou 
mmakest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the 


THE Best SysteM oF MoRALs. 63 


lame, the blind: and thcu shalt be blessed; 
for they cannot recompense thee.” 

Enemies and foreigners are embraced in the 
love which Jesus enjoined his disciples to exer- 
cise. The parable of the Good Samaritan is one 
of the sublimest lessons concerning the duty 
every man owes his neighbor which can be found 
in all the range of literature. “ All things what- 
soever ye would that men should do to you, do 
ye even so to them,” is the final summing up of 
the precepts of Christian morality. Hate, re- 
venge, anger, malice, and all malevolent disposi- 
tions are condemned by the Gospel. Before 
Christ came the highest ideal of manhood was 
the one who possessed indomitable courage, 
powers, and strength, who walked about among 
his enemies without fear, consuming them with 
the fierceness of his anger. The ideal hero 
shielded his friends and terrified his foes with 
irresistible fury. This false notion of strength 
and glory had penetrated the Church and domi- 
nated the scribes and Pharisees as well as the 
Greeks and Romans. “Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor and hate thine enemy,” was the inter- 
pretation which the Jewish doctors gave to the 
law of God. But Christ said: “Love your 


64 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them 
that despitefully use you and persecute you, do 
good to them that hate you.” Following in his 
footsteps, the apostles taught that. true manhood 
consists chiefly in the passive virtues. Endurance 
rather than resistance is the test of heroism and 
the means of victory. “ Dearly beloved, avenge 
not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath : 
for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, 
saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy 
hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: 
for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on 
his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome 
evil with good.” 

Here is the profoundest philosophy. The true 
method of conquest and reformation is herein 
set forth. Happy the men who have the wisdom 
to understand and the grace to practice these 
precepts. It is to be feared that the disciples 
of Jesus with rare exceptions have not risen to 
the full height of this exalted standard, although 
by it multitudes of them have been elevated far 
above the world. 

The accusation has been brought against 
Christianity that it fails to emphasize the virtues 
of patriotism and friendship, and even discour- 


Tue Best System or Morat.s. 65 


ages the domestic virtues in its attempt to make 
its moral principles universal in their application. 
It teaches men to love strangers as well as their 
own countrymen, to treat enemies as though they 
were friends, to forget the ties of nature in their 
effort to benefit those who have no claims on 
them. But this is not the tendency of the 
Gospel of Christ. He clearly perceived that men 
are not inapt to love their friends, that natural 
and domestic affection, which are truly divine, 
tend to become extravagant so as to destroy that 
happy balance of the affections which the highest 
good of humanity requires. It is excessive in- 
tensity and perversion of domestic love that pro- 
duees unfriendly feelings toward those who are 
outside of the circle of the home. Excessive in- 
dulgence of patriotism degenerates into hatred 
of aliens and strangers. Exclusive attachment 
to friends begets enmity toward those who have 
not shown us favors. No father can love his 
children too much, but he may love them too 
exclusively. No man can become too fondly 
attached to his friends and country, but, fixing 
his mind and heart on these to the exclusion of 
others, he will become unjust. The precepts of 


our Lord emphasize most those virtues which 
5 


66 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


men are most prone'to neglect. If le has seemed 
to say too little about some of the most sacred 
relationships, it is because of the condition of 
humanity which requires the exaltation of cer- 
tain forgotten graces. The love which Jesus 
inculeated, and from which all moral virtues pro- 
ceed as streams flow from a fountain, is a deep 
and abiding principle embracing all the proper 
relations of man to other beings in the universe. 

The importance of Christianity in the work of 
elevating and improving the moral condition of 
individuals and of society cannot be overesti- 
mated. Its standard of morals is infinitely 
superior to all others. The teachings of Christ 
have affected favorably the conditions of society 
and government wherever his Gospel has been 
proclaimed. In our own country there is a bold 
demand, on the part of those who despise the 
Bible, for the repeal of all civil statutes which 
recognize and encourage religious. institutions, 
and the complete secularization of every thing 
connected with the government. If every thing 
which has been borrowed from the Bible and 
Christianity were eliminated from our laws and 
our government there would not be mucli left 
worth contending for. Whena thoughtful pagan 


Tue Best System or MorALts. 67 


embassador visited the Queen of England and in- 
quired of her the secret of the prosperity of 
her realm, she handed him a Bible. The only 
symbol used in the ceremony whereby the Pres- 
ident of the United States is inaugurated into his 
high office is the Bible. Shrewd lawyers and 
wise statesmen study the Bible diligently, be- 
cause they find in it the oldest laws in the world 
and the principles of social order on which the 
finest and most enduring social fabrics in the 
world have been constructed. 

Honest and thoughtful men have conceded to 
the Christian Scriptures the highest place among 
moral teachings. Not only Christian teachers 
but skeptical thinkers have accorded to Jesus 
Christ and the system of which he is the author 
the highest praise on account of their moral pre- 
cepts and moral influence among men. Cabet, 
a socialistic writer, quoted by Charles Loring 
Brace, says: “If Christianity had been interpre- 
ted and applied in the spirit of Jesus Christ, if 
it had been well known and faithfully practieed 
by the numerous bodies of Christians who are 
animated by a sincere piety, and who only need 
to know truth well in order to follow it, this 
Christianity, its morals, its philosophy, its pre- 


68 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


cepts would have sufficed, and would still suffice, 
to establish a perfect society and political organ- 
ization, to deliver humanity from the evil which 
weighs it down, and to assure the happiness of 
the human race on the earth.” Benjamin Frank- 
lin, who gave much study to the subject of 
ethics, and whose natural genius and opportu- 
nities of observation qualified him to judge wisely 
on such a subject, says: “ As to Jesus of Naza- 
reth, my opinion of whom yon particularly de- 
sire, I think his system of morals and his religion 
as he left them to us are the best the world ever 
saw or is likely to see.” Goethe, who cannot be 
accused of overestimating what is excellent in 
Christianity, writes: ‘Let the human mind be 
expanded as much as it please, it will never 
transeend the height and morality of Christian- 
ity as it shines in the Gospel.” Voltaire, who 
spent his life contending against Christianity as 
a system of religion, was nevertheless constrained 
to admit that the moral precepts of the Gospel 
have never been equaled by any thing the human 
mind has produced. Contrasting this system 
with the best that philosophy was ever able to 
devise, he says: “Stoicism produced but one 
Epictetus; and Christianity forms thousands of 


Tuer Brest System or Morats. 69 


such philosopers, who know not that they are So, 
and who carry their virtue to such a length as to 
be ignorant that they possess any.” 

But how shall the precepts of the Gospel be 
enforced? This exalted standard of morality 
has appeared to some thinkers to be doomed to 
self-defeat because of the absolute impossibility 
of human nature ever rising to its height. Many 
have pronounced it very good, but utterly im- 
practicable. Nevertheless it has been found by 
actual experiment, repeated under a great variety 
of circumstances and among widely differing 
races of men, that it is the most practicable 
system ever proposed. 

The precepts of the Gospel are enforced by 
divine authority. It is not the voice of a philos- 
opher or a prophet, but the voice of the Creator 
of the heavens and the earth that speaks in the 
Bible. These commandments have power over 
men because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken 
them. Those who hear these words are taught 
that they must soon stand before God and give 
account for the deeds done in the body, that 
_ “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God 
is eternal life.” The duties enjoined in the Bible 
are urged on men by the awards of eternity. 


70 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES, 


The day will come when the dead shall hear the 
voice of God and come forth; they that have 
done good unto the resurrection of life, and they 
that have done evil unto the resurrection of 
damnation. The judge of all the earth will 
gather all nations before him, and will separate 
between them asa shepherd divideth his sheep 
from the goats. The righteous he will place on 
his right hand, and the wicked on his left. Then 
shall he say unto those on his left hand: “ De- 
part, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for 
the devil and his angels.” But unto the right- 
eous he will say: “Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
from the foundation of the world.” Here is 
something definite, something positive, some- 
thing potent. Modern thinkers may sneer at 
this doctrine, but it is Christ’s doctrine, and its 
effects on men have been most wholesome. “ By 
their fruits ye shall know them.” The more 
men modify and mend these strong doctrines of 
the eternal consequences of good and evil, the 
more they rob Christianity of its power for 
good. 

The Bible presents another means of making 
men good. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit as 


Tur Best System oF MoRALs. as 


a regenerating agent to renew and purify the 
hearts of men. Love is the great principle of 
Christian morality, but whence shall man obtain 
that love? “The love of God is shed abroad 
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given 
unto us.” The reason why preachers of the 
Gospel have been able to make so many converts 
and to secure obedience to the moral precepts of 
the Bible on the part of tens of thousands, while 
pagan philosophers of the best type utterly failed 
to produce any reformation among the people by 
their doctrines, is chiefly in the fact that they 
pointed their hearers to the promise of divine 
regeneration and divine assistance. And this 
regeneration actually occurred. 

Men are not able to keep the commandments 
of God, the precepts of the philosophers, or the 
law written on their own hearts. They know 
the right, but do the wrong. There is a law in, 
their members warring against the law of the 
mind, bringing them into subjection to the law 
of sin. When they would do good evil is pres- 
ent. They cannot do the things they would. 
Paganism offers no remedy for the bondage to 
sin which prevails every-where. Philosophy 
never proposed a remedy. But Christianity 


72 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


offered an adequate remedy for the evil. With 
its enlightening precepts it brought in divine 
aid. Hence Christ offered the kingdom of God 
to sinners. This was the reproach which the 
Pharisees heaped on him before his crucifixion. 
“He receiveth sinners and eateth with them.” 
He was called in derision, “the friend of publi- 
cans and sinners.” This was the argument which 
the enemies of Christianity brought against the 
early Christians. They were taken from the 
lowest classes; the vilest characters were wel- 
comed into the fellowship of the disciples of the 
Son of God. And it was the glory of Christi- 
anity from the beginning that it accepted the 
worst and made them the best. With great 
boldness Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Know 
ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the 
kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither 
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor 
effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with ran- 
kind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunt-ards, 
nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the 
kingdom of God. And such were some of you: 
but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, but ye are 
Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by 
the Spirit of our God.” 


Tur Best System or MoRALs. 73 


In a similar strain Tertullian wrote concerning 
the Christians of his day. Defending then 
against the attacks of their enemies he pointed 
to the courts of justice throughout the Roman 
Empire before which criminals were arraigned 
every week charged with theft, inurder, treason, 
and other crimes. He challenged the accusers 
of the Christians to point ont a ease in which a 
Christian had been convicted of crime in these 
tribunals. The only charge that could be estab- 
lished against them was that they were disciples 
of Jesus of Nazareth. This was the triumphant 
argument by which the early Christian apolo- 
gists vindicated their brethren. Taken up from 
the lowest classes of society, they were washed 
and renewed by a power unknown to philosophy. 
They became the salt of the earth, the light of 
the world, and men seeing the change wrought 
in them, and the power over sin which they 
possessed, were drawn into the same way of life 
in the face of persecution. 

By such practical demonstrations of the power 
of the Gospel, and the excellence of its moral 
code, Christianity commends itself to all intelli- 
gent and fair-minded men. In this method of 
renewing the heart by divine grace and secur- 


74 RELicGion ror tHe Tues, 


ing obedience to the purest moral precepts in 
the world, it differs from all other systems of 
human reformation. According to Aristotle 
one becomes good by doing good, but according 
to Jesus one must become good in order that he 
may do good. ‘Ye must be born again.” 

It was the opinion of Socrates that sin origi- 
nated in ignorance, and that when the mind 
should be enlightened by the truth, and a clear 
conception of virtue should be awakened, it 
would be impossible not to live a virtuous life. 
But Jesus taught that sin originates in the heart. 
“Out of the heart proceed evil thonghts, mur- 
ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, 
blasphemies. These are the things which defile 
a man.” The remedy for moral evil must 
change the heart. To enlighten the intellect 
is not sufficient. Many modern apostles of 
culture advocate the same opinion as that 
which Socrates held. They tell us that the 
means and guarantee of moral perfection may 
be found in education. But intellectual culture 
cannot impart spiritual purity and strength. 
The history of the race proves the inadequacy 
of this means of securing justice and purity. 
Periods of the highest intellectual culture have 


Tue Best System or MorAts. 75 


been the starting-points of the deepest moral 
declension. 

Christianity has been accused of appropriating 
the virtues of all other systems of religion and 
philosophy and claiming them as distinctively 
and exclusively her own. It is said that what- 
ever is good in the teachings of Confucius and 
Buddha and Socrates and Seneca has been in- 
corporated into Christianity and proclaimed by 
its teachers as though it originally emanated 
from Christ and the Bible. Certain modern 
writers assert that Christianity brought no new 
ideas of righteousness into the world. Henry 
Thomas Buckle says: “The system of morals 
propounded in the New Testament contained no 
maxims which had not been previously enunci- 
ated. Some of the most beautiful passages in 
the apostolic writings are quotations from pagan 
authors.” 

Concerning such declarations two things may 
be said. One may find in the writings of pagan 
philosophers precepts similar to those contained 
in the New Testament. Doing good, forgiving 
enemies, restraining passion, and honoring par- 
ents, together with other important social du- 
ties, were inculeated by pagan moralists before 


76 RELIGION FOR THE "TIMEs, 


the time of Christ. But one must search a long 
time among a mass of rubbish, with which those 
philosophical and religious writings are burdened, 
to find one of these jewels. They are few and 
far between. You may discover one in a great 
library, and all about it you will see suicide 
commended, revenge approved, infanticide in- 
dorsed, and other similar deeds of barbarism and 
shame encouraged. To compare the New Tes- 
tament with the best pagan book in the world, 
and place their moral teachings on the same 
level, argues an utter want of moral perception 
or of common honesty. We would not under- 
estimate Confucius or Socrates or Plato, nor 
misrepresent their teachings, but when we place 
them by the side of Jesus and the New Testa. 
ment even infidels are compelled to acknowl- 
edge the superiority of the latter. 

Another thing is to be said concerning this 
comparison. If Christ had found all his moral 
precepts in pagan writings they would have 
been stamped with a Christian type when he 
placed behind them a Christian motive. Pagan 
teachers proclained many wholesome doctrines, 
but they found no sufficient motive to induce 
men to practice them. There was no adequate 


Tue Brest System or Morats. 77 


authority behind them. They proposed no 
spiritual regeneration by divine agency. Their 
doctrines failed to reform men. 

We would do the fullest justice to non-Chris- 
tian efforts to improve the moral condition of 
man. It cannot be denied that in some cases 
the teachings of pagan ioralists have borne good 
fruit. The efforts of the stoic philosophers were 
not altogether futile. Many of them not only 
reformed their own lives, but induced others to 
a limited extent to follow their example and im- 
itate their virtues. Confucius, also, the sage of 
China, who lived more than five hundred years 
before Christ, not only tanght some of the pur- 
est moral precepts, but by means of his doctrines 
exerted a wholesome influence over the millions 
who have inhabited that vast empire, which has 
given permanence to their State and continues 
to this day to preserve among them the highest 
type of social life to be found anywhere outside 
of Christendom. Reverence for parents, domes- 
tic affection, love of order and knowledge, and 
loyalty to civil authorities are the principles on 
which all Chinese institutions are built. Con- 
fucius gave to China a systein of morals to which 
that nation owes its greatness and perpetuity. 


78 RELIGION FOR THE TimEs. 


But there is another side to the picture. 
Among the Chinese a woman has no name. 
She is the property, the slave, of her husband. 
The Chinese have a creditable system of educa- 
tion, but it is for boys only. No provision is 
made for the education of woman; her education 
is forbidden. When the Methodist missionaries 
in Foochow called their first female converts to 
the altar for baptism they were confronted with 
the strange and embarrassing fact that their can- 
didates were nameless. A woman receives no 
name in China, because she has no distinction, no 
personality, in the thought of her countrymen. 

Confucius proposed excellent moral precepts, 
but offered no salvation, no eternal life, no God, 
to his followers. Concerning God, he said: “We 
know but little about man whom we have seen, 
how can we know any thing about the gods 
whom we have not seen? The best thing men 
can do with reference to the gods is to have as 
little to do with them as possible.” Concerning 
the future, he said: “ We know but little about 
this life, how then can we know any thing about 
any other life?” Concerning death, he said to 
one who made inquiries: “Why do you euri- 
ously ask about death? Wait until you are dead, 


Tue Best System or MoraA.s. 79 


and then you will know what death is.” This 
agnosticism could do little to elevate the race or 
reform the wicked. Hence there is permanence 
in China, but no progress. The Chinese rever- 
ence parents and worship ancestors, but have 
little conscientious scruples about putting their 
children to death or practicing polygamy and 
oppressing the weak. 

Matthew Arnold has said: ‘Show me ten 
square miles in any part of the world outside 
Christianity where the life of a man and the 
purity of a woman are safe, and I will give up 
Christianity.’ Commenting on this utterance, 
Professor Drummond says: ‘In no part of the 
world is there such ten square miles outside 
Christianity. Christian men are the salt of the 
earth in the most literal sense. They and they 
alone keep the world from utter destruction.” 

A Chinese writer of superior intelligence and 
culture, a convert to Christianity, recently ex- 
pressed his views of the comparative merits of 
the teachings of Christian missionaries and 
those of Confucius in terms so clear and sensible 
that I feel justified in transferring some of his 
statements to these pages. Zhe North China 
Daily News had published an article concerning 


80 RELIGION FoR THE TIMES, 


the persecutions to which Christians have been 
subjected of late in that country. Replying to 
the charges therein made against Christianity 
and the missionaries, the author to whom I have 
referred says: 

“I come now to the three principal charges 
which have been noticed by others of your corre- 
spondents. Under the first charge the writer is 
not content with declaring that the Christian 
convert is not morally better than the ordinary 
Chinaman, but insists that he is not even as 
good and useful a citizen; in other words, that 
the convert has been debased through coming 
in contact with Christianity and its professors. 

‘Before making a comparison between the 
Christian convert and the average Chinaman, as 
representing two distinct classes of our people, 
let us see how they are each taught, trained, edu- 
cated, and controlled by external influences. 
The Chinaman from his early youth is taught 
that the Confucian writings are his ideal moral 
code; that according to this code filial piety is 
the summum bonum of this earthly life; that 
the five relations form the five cardinal social 
virtues; that honesty and sincerity are obliga- 
tory only so far as they are consistent with ex- 


Tuer Best System or Morats. 81 


pediency; that evil is to be requited by evil, 
and kindness by kindness. Indoctrinated with 
such ideas the Chinaman’s ideal moral life is a 
miserable failure. 

2 Coming to the question of the average 
Chinaman’s veracity and sense of honor, as a 
result of Confucian teaching, I agree with Car- 
lyle that ‘silence is golden’ The average 
Chinaman’s revengeful disposition is another 
too well-known characteristic to need comment 
here. 

“We will now examine into the principles 
which the Christian convert is taught. Just as 
the Chinaman’s swmmum bonum of practical 
ethics is filial piety, so the Christian’s is univer- 
sal love. The sincere Christian convert whose 
heart is full of this love will manifest all its at- 
tributes, which together make up the stature of 
the perfect man. And I say it is an utter im- 
possibility that such a man can be inferior 
morally to the average Chinaman, indoctrinated, 
as the latter is, with solely Confucian ideas. It 
is not true that the native converts as a class are 
induced to join the Christian Church through the 
hope of pecuniary benefit or material advan- 


tage; but it is true that only an infinitely small 
f : 


82 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


proportion of them obtain any so-called pecuniary 
assistance from missionaries. 

“ The fact is, the Christian converts of China 
are a sober, peaceful, and honest class of people 
who, convinced that their sad earthly lot has 
little or no happiness to give them, have been 
eager to accept the glad tidings of the Gospel 
as affording them the hope of ameliorating their 
condition hereafter.” 

This gentleman speaks from a thorough knowl- 
edge of both Chinese and Christian morality. 
In the face of the testimony of this competent 
witness what becomes of the assumption, which 
we sometimes meet even in America and En- 
gland, that the moral precepts of Confucius are 
equal to those of Christ and that the results of 
missionary operations in China are not to be en- 
couraged? Let Confucius have all the credit his 
followers and admirers can justly claim for him ; 
let no one underestimate the moral standards of 
the Chinese or represent their private and public 
lives as being worse than they are; but, after all 
this credit has been given, the moral teachings 
of Christ are superior to those of China’s great 
sage, as purest gold is superior to baser metals ; 
and the great need of China is the Gospel. 


Tur Brest System or Morats. 83 


Atheism has nothing better to offer than pa- 
ganism ; nay, nothing half so good. Religion is 
so important to the life of man that a corrupt 
religion is better than none. Commenting on 
the opinion of Plutarch, that atheism is rather to 
be chosen than idolatry, Dr. Samuel Johnson 
once said: “A man may live in a corrupted 
atmosphere, but he must die in an exhausted 
receiver.” The result of the general adoption 
of atheism by a whole nation would be the de- 
struction of all social order. When the exist- 
ence of all supreme authority and the foundation 
of all order is ignored then the way is open 
to the wildest anarchy. The fruits of atheism, | 
as witnessed once in France and many times 
among certain classes of anarchists and eommn- 
nists, are a sufficient testimony against such an 
irrational system. 

Prominent schools of skeptical teachers in our 
day propose to produce a system of ethics 
totally separate and distinct from all religious 
doctrines. But they are not able to agree 
among themselves except in one thing, that the 
basis of their system shall have nothing to do 
with religion. They tell us that they do not 
object to the morality of the Bible, but to the 


i 


84 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


foundation on which it rests. They want a sys- 
tem of ethics scientifically constructed. It must 
not be the product of a divine revelation, but of 
the human brain, thought ont and built up from 
the facts and experiences of the mind as we are 
able to observe them. The main object is to get 
clear of God. Then these modern thinkers are 
anxious to dispense with the doctrines of sin 
and salvation and immortality as taught in the 
Bible. They see the need of some immutable 
standard of duty. They have discovered at last 
that the morals of the Bible are not objection- 
able. Formerly the moral precepts of the Bible 
were denonnced by infidels as dangerous doc- 
‘trines. But they have vindicated themselves in 
practical operation and have compelled the re- 
spect even of the foes of Christianity. The 
moral code, announced with an air of originality 
by these modern thinkers, is in many respects 
identical with that of the Gospel, but the claim 
is set up that it is something new because it has ~ 
been evolved by a scientific process. _ 

A serious difficulty in the way of the scientific 
morality is that man in an uncivilized state is 
not capable of close and accurate reasoning. 
Before he can begin to work out for himself a 


Tue Best System or Morats. 85 


system of ethics according to this plan he must 
rise toa high degree of culture and improve- 
ment. That is to say, he must become civilized, 
enlightened, and highly-cultured without ethical 
principles, and then find them out after his 
greatest need is past. If he can do without an 
ethical system until he has acquired that degree 
of improvement which will enable him to pro- 
duce one, why not continue to do without it? 
The very time when man needs to be taught 
what is right and what is wrong is while he is 
ignorant, uncivilized, barbarous. It is in such a 
condition that the Gospel comes to him with its 
‘light and help. It suits his condition, meets his 
want, elevates him to a nobler, purer manhood. 
Moreover, without a rule of right, both authori- 
tative and correct, he never could attain that 
degree of culture and wisdom which are neces. 
-sary in order to the development of a scientific 
moral system. These modern philosophers, who 
elaim to have invented a system of ethics which 
is suited to the nature and needs of humanity, 
acquired the mental power to achieve this feat 
under the influence of Christian civilization and 
Christian institutions. Take away from their 
system all that they have borrowed from Chris- 


86 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


tianity, directly and indirectly, and nothing will 
be left worth contending about. 

Besides, what value can there be in the sublim- 
est ethical principles and rules in the world 
when they are wholly separated from religion ? 
The materialistic spirit of the times which pro- 
poses to banish God and build up humanity by 
culture and science is unsympathetic, hard, and 
cruel in its tendencies. A few great philoso- 
phers may maintain a cold correctness of con- 
duct under its influence, but teach it to men in 
general, and they become tyrants, criminals, and 
abandoned debauchees. The honorable secretary 
of the London Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Children, while speaking of more 
than a thousand cases which had come under the 
eare of the society recently, said: “ You do not 
find this kind of crime among the very poor. 
It is when you get people with some knowledge, 
a bit of a smattering about protoplasm ; men 
who believe in neither God nor devil, who say 
that every thing is material, and stand, a lot of 
them, to hear the blasphemer talk on the Sab- 
bath day—these are the guilty parties, for, fear- 
ing neither God nor man, they know nothing 
either of tenderness or pity for little children. 


Tue Best System or MorAts. 87 


Nor is it ignorance, nor is it overcrowded 
dwellings. Two of the worst cases we have ever 
had were in ‘model dwellings.’ No; material- 
ism is the cause of this wickedness to young 
children. One man whom we sent to prison 
understood five languages, and was teaching the 
little boy French when he committed the das- 
tardly assault upon him. Another whom we 
sent to the tread-mill was reading Tyndall’s 
Floating Matter of the Air, and had proceeded 
as far as the 240th page, making neat and copi- 
ous notes throughout. The materialistic and 
gambling tendencies of the age—quite as much 
as drunkenness—are a cause of this kind of 
crime, and they are eating into the very life of 
the nation.” 

Banish from the minds of men all belief in 
the existence and all respect for the authority of 
God, and all tenderness toward helpless child- 
hood and human weakness will go also. Those 
who have low ideas of God, and little love for 
him, have proportionately low ideas of the sacred- 
ness of human life and inadequate appreciation 
of the rights of others. Infanticide prevails 
among pagans who neither know God nor love 
him. A similar crime flourishes in more highly 


88 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


civilized countries in proportion to the growth 
of materialistic, agnostic, and atheistic princi- 
ples. | 
It must be confessed that the moral characters 
and conduct of many in Christian countries are 
sadly defective. This is the ground of objection 
to Christianity urged by heathen thinkers against 
the efforts of missionaries to propagate the Gospel 
in pagan lands. Failing to make a distinction be- 
tween real and nominal Christians, regarding all 
who have been brought up under Christian gov- 
ernments as Christians, they point to the dishon- 
esty and wickedness which prevail in those lands, 
and say: ‘Tf these are the fruits of Christianity 
we wish to be excused from receiving it.” Un- 
believers also in Christian countries point to the 
unworthy example of many professing Christians, 
and think they find in it an unanswerable argu- 
ment against the Christian religion. The task 
of propagating the Gospel would be far easier if 
such examples did not exist. The history of the 
Christian Church presents multitudes of facts 
which bring the blush of shame to the true 
Christian’s cheek. But is it fair to attribute the 
wrong-doing and corruption of Christian leaders 
and people to the Christian religion, when these 


Tue Brest System or Morats. . 89 


same vices and crimes are contrary to the teach- 
ings of the Gospel? We find fault with heathen 
philosophy and religion justly when the people 
under their inflnence commit suicide and infanti- 
cide, and oppress and enslave women because 
they are taught by their philosophers and priests 
that these things are right. But when Christian 
popes indulge in licentiousness and debauchery, 
and Christian rulers invent and use the tortures 
of the Inquisition, and Christian capitalists op- 
press the hireling in his wages, we do not char ge 
these crimes against Christianity, because they 
are exactly contrary to the teachings of the Gos- 
pel, and those who commit them are not really, 
but only nominally, Christians. 

To object to Christianity because it is not 
universally effective is equivalent to an argu- 
ment against the utility and value of human 
laws on the ground that they are frequently vio- 
lated. The Gospel has often been misunder- 
stood by those who supposed themselves to be 
its chief custodians and defenders. As the dis- 
ciples wished to call down fire from heaven to 
consume those who did not receive their Lord 
because they knew not what spirit they were of, 
so many with a miscuided zeal for Christianity 


90 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


have drawn the sword of persecution and filled 
the Jand with innocent blood. The ignorance of 
some, the hypocrisy and dishonesty of others, 
and the native depravity of all have placed many 
a stumbling-block in the way of Christianity and 
dimmed the radiance with which it is capable of 
blessing humanity. | 


CULTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 91 


CHAPTER ITI. 
CULTURE IN ITS RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 


Amone the multitude of marvelous character- 
istics by which this age is distinguished, none 
is more striking than the prominent place heid 
by culture as an object of desire and pursuit. 
Never before was education so widely dissemi- 
nated and carried to so high a degree of perfec- 
tion. Never before were institutions of learning 
and educational facilities so numerous and so 
easily accessible as they are to-day ; and in this 
respect our own country, although still new, ranks 
among the foremost. Schvols, colleges, semina- 
ries, universities, books, newspapers, magazines, 
libraries, abound and are rapidly multiplying, 
so that in almost every situation in life one may 
- find at hand the means of storing his mind with 
useful knowledge and strengthening his facul- 
ties by reading and study. 

Yet the work of true culture has only just 
begun. The aim of culture is not merely to 
acquire knowledge or to enlarge the intelli- 


92 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


gence and improve the mental capacities of in- 
telligent beings. The aim and scope of true cult- 
ure is deep and broad. It seeks to unfold, 
strengthen, enrich, beautify, and perfect the soul, 
including all its faculties, intellectual and moral. 
It contemplates, not a definite condition of mind, 
where one may say, “I have attained,” and rest 
from further effort, but a constant and limitléss 
growth toward: an ideal which includes infinite 
treasures and infinite powers of thought. alt 
einbraces in its scope, not a single individual, | 
but the whole human race. That improvement 
which is isolated and selfish is also partial and 
stunted. The race of man is a common brother- 
hood. The ignorance and darkness which ob- 
scure one intellect do to some extent affect all. 
The light which shines into one soul can never 
be more than a glimmer of twilight so long as 
it is limited to one. Theaim of culture is not 
selfish or exclusive. One who seeks knowledge 
rightly seeks it not for himself alone, but for 
mankind. 

Doubtiess it is true that men of this age have 
mounted higher in respect to intellectual and 
moral attainment and development than ever 
before, but the ascent has only just begun. 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 93 


Vaster multitudes hunger and thirst after knowl- 
edge to-day than ever before; but what countless 
millions still grope in ignorance! ‘To say noth- 
ing of the tribes of Africa-and darker portions 
of Asia, who have scarcely a thought or impulse 
above those of the beasts that perish, the igno- 
rance and stupidity which prevail in the most 
enlightened quarters of the globe are appalling. 
In England, America, and Germany, where so 
much is said about culture, refinement, and 
learning, what do the masses think of and pur- 
sue? Even in States where education is made 
: compulsory, what do we see? Multitudes of hu- 
man beings who appear to have no conception 
of what they are and what they might become, 
grasping after money, fighting for bread, toiling 
after some outward possession, thinking and talk- 
ing about offices, political parties, policies, rail- 
roads, bridges, steam-ships, commerce, and manu- 
facturing. A few read, but what do they read ? 
For the most part something totally unworthy 
to be called literature and inadequate to the pur- 
pose of mental development. Are~these our 
lands of boasted culture? So far as we can dis- 
cover, the soul of the race is even yet asleep. 
There are some who look with astonishment 


94 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


on the intellectual progress of this century, and, 
considering the inventions, discoveries, and at- 
tainments of the present, they wonder whether 
any thing remains to be achieved, and conclude 
that the summit has been reached, and the race 
must stand still or go backward. But the motto 
of Panl, in reference to spiritual things, might 
be wisely adopted with respect to culture both 
in each individual and in the race: “ Forgetting 
those things which are behind, and reaching 
forth unto those things which are before, I press 
toward the mark for the prize of the high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus.” 

The relation of Christianity to culture is one 
of vast importance. A notion that culture and 
religion are incompatible forces is still quite 
prevalent in certain quarters. An appearance of 
canflict between the two has been conjured up 
by certain writers in order to frighten young 
people who are ambitious for a reputation for 
learning. A real breach between the Church 
and culture has existed, and does still exist. 
Many educated men have set themselves against 
the Church and the Bible, while some religious 
teachers have taken up the sword against science. 

The alienation of scholars from Christianity, 


CULTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 95 


which we have often witnessed, is, to a great ex- 
tent, the fault of the Church. There have been 
times when the Church has disparaged science. 
Leaders of scientific investigation and discovery 
have been persecuted by the Church because 
their new doctrines appeared to conflict with 
the Bible. But, in taking this position, the ec- 
clesiastical authorities did not fairly represent 
the Gospel. They acted, not in the interest of 
the kingdom of God, but of superstition. In- 
sisting on superstitious doctrines and persisting 
in superstitious practices which intelligent men 
could not respect, they have driven some of the 
best men in the world into an attitude of hostil- 
ity to the Church and Christianity. They were 
guilty of a double blunder and a crime. They 
set up their superstitions against science ; they 
sought to prevent the exercise of resto of 
thought; they hoped to carry their point by 
violence. In these things the Church displayed 
a spirit of disloyalty to the truth and to Christ. 
The Church has also fostered a spirit of an- 
tagonism between Christianity and culture by 
misrepresenting true religion, both in doctrine 
and in practice. Moral corruption among priests 
in convents and confessionals, the exposure of, 


96 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


pretended relics of dead saints, dishonest traffic 
in the wood of the true cross and indulgences, 
the pretended performance of miracles in Italy, 
Spain, and other countries, and other similar 
hypocritical, mercenary, and immoral practices 
lave made religion ridiculous in the eyes of in- 
telligent and cultivated people. Declining in 
spiritual life and moral integrity, while still 
holding on to the name of Christ and the fun- 
damental doctrines of the Gospel, the Church 
has driven men of thought to prefer unorthodox 
morality to orthodox immorality. 

For these errors of the Church Christianity is 
not responsible. Followers of Christ who are 
wise hail the advance of science and learning as 
part of the plan of the Creator for the redemp- 
tion of the world from ignorance and misery. 
They hear the voice of God and see the hand- 
writing of the Almighty in the stars, in the 
earth, and in the sea, as well as in the Bible. 
There is a revelation in the Bible which is not 
found in nature, and there is a revelation in the 
natural universe which is not found in the Bible. 
They do, not conflict when correctly interpreted, 
They are both needful for the instruction, 1m-. 
provement, and perfection of humanity, and the 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 97 


establishment of the kingdom of God. The 
revelation of the Bible is given more especially 
for “instruction in righteousness, that the man 
of God may be thoroughly furnished unto every 
good work,” although it also aids in the devel- 
opment and improvement of the intellectual 
faculties. The revelation of nature is particu- 
larly adapted to the enlargement and improve- 
ment of human intelligence, but is not limited 
to this sphere. It furnishes a thousand lessons 
of instruction calculated to correct moral deform- 
ity and lead the soul to God. 

It would be unjust to place the entire respon- 
sibility for the conflict between religion and 
culture on the Church. The representatives of 
culture must bear their share of blame. One 
class of teachers maintains that education alone 
is sufficient to reform man and perfect the race 
without the aid of religion. This is the favorite 
theory of certain eminent philosophers of our 
own day. They tell us that the Church has 
had its day; religion is dying out; in proportion 
as intelligence increases, confidence in a divine 
revelation diminishes; and that the time is not 
distant when educated people will no longer re- 
spect the doctrines of the Bible. They tell us 


d 


98 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


that science is henceforth to be the religion of 
the world; that “all man needs is to be taught 
the relation of canse and effect. This will reach 
his soul and turn his steps into paths of right- 
eousness. When man sees that an evil cause pro- 
duces evil effects he will at once turn from that 
cause, and ever after shun it. Now, science 
teaches man the relations of causes and effects. 
Science, therefore, is all-sufficient.” 

That scientific instruction is an important aid 
in securing the abandonment and overthrow of 
the evils which afflict society is true. The 
value of scientific instruction in the public schools 
concerning the nature and effects of alcohol can- 
not be overestimated. We have reason to hope 
that thousands of children will be saved from 
drunkenness by being taught the relation be- 
tween this powerful agent and its effects. But 
will this process alone save our country from the 
evils of intemperance? There are many physi- 
cians thoroughly acquainted with the effects of 
alcohol who nevertheless become drunkards. 
They have learned this lesson in the medical 
school ; they have learned it from extensive ob- 
servation; they have seen it confirmed in their 
daily practice; but this knowledge does not re- 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. - 99 


strain them from acquiring the taste for strong 
drink and the habit of using it, nor does it 
~ enable them to abandon the practice in after life. 
Something more than a thorough knowledge of 
the relation of cause and effect is necessary to 
keep the feet of men from the paths of vice. 
But it will be maintained that culture means 
not merely the knowledge of science, but a 
thorough training of body and mind. This is 
the position by which Mr. Huxley proposes to 
get on without religion and without God. This 
is what he says: “That man, I think, has a lib- 
eral education who has been so trained in youth 
that his body is the ready servant of his will, 
and does with ease and pleasure all the work 
that, as a mechanism, it is capable of ; whose in- 
tellect is a clear, cold logic-engine, with all its 
parts of equal strength, and in smooth working 
order; ready, like a steam-engine, to be turned 
to any kind of work, and spin the gossamers, as 
well as forge the anchors, of the mind; whose 
mind is stored with a knowledge of the great 
and fundamental truths of nature and of the 
laws of her operations; one who, no stunted 
ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose pas- 
sions are trained to come to heel bya vigorous 


100 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


will, the servant of a tender conscience; who has 
learned to love all beauty, whether of nature or 
art, to hate all vileness, and to respect cthers as 
himself.” 

If this ideal could be realized by scientific 
study and training it would still be imperfect. 
It makes no provision for the supply of one of the 
deepest yearnings of the soul. Deeper than the 
desire for communion and sympathy with kin- 
dred and equals is the human longing for com- 
muuion with an intelligence, higher, migliticr, 
purer than self. This thirst is universal. No 
— science, no philosophy, no learning, can satisfy it. 
The cry for the living God is a great fact which 
scientists must not pass over. 

Besides, by what process of education have the 
passions of men ever been trained to submit to 
the mandates of the will? And what science 
has ever been able to control and guide the will 
in the path of duty? How can intellectual cult- 
ure develop a tender and upright conscience ? 
And what provision does this non-religious sys- 
tem make to secnre that respect for others which 
each one has for himself? There is no more 
prominent feature of human nature than selfish- 
ness, and science, so far from overcoming, tends 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 101 


to intensify it. There is no fact more universal 
than the disregard of man for the interests of 
his neighbor, and education has never been ade- 
quate to the task of correcting this fault. Count- 
less facts show the weakness of this atheistic 
scheme of culture. Those who advocate the 
separation of education from religion, on the 
ground that man has no need of the latter, must 
have studied history and human nature to very 
poor purpose. 

This error cannot be guarced against too care- 
fully. The effort to develop the highest type of 
men and women exclusively by intellectual 
processes, by schools, colleges. literature, science, 
and the fine arts, must ever prove in vain. It 
is contrary to the laws of mind. The cultiva- 
tion which does not begin and end with the 
moral and religious nature is not worthy of the 
name. True cultivation begins in the develop- 
ment of great moral and spiritual ideas. The 
ideas of God, righteousness, duty, self-sacrifice, 
love, immortality, and eternal life, as manifested 
in Christ, lie at the foundation of all true cult- 
ure. On these foundation-stones the best men- 
tal structures are built. To ignore these is to 
build on sand. With these fundamental prin- 


102 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


ciples firmly fixed in the soul, one may go on to 
acquire a tender conscience, an upright and com- 
manding will, that benevolence and_ charity 
which think no evil and respect others as one’s 
self, and the highest degree of intellectual vigor 
and force of which human nature is capable. 

Other champions of culture admit the reality 
and importance of religion, but accord to it a 
secondary place in the work of redeeming and 
reforming man. They claim that culture is all- 
inclusive, that it embraces every faculty of the 
mind and all the needs of man, while religion 
only offers aid to a part of the mind, and that 
at the expense of other faculties. Religion, say 
they, develops the conscience and the devotional 
feelings at the expense of the judgment and the 
esthetic faculties. Religion,. according to this 
theory, is not only a secondary consideration, a 
mere ornament to the soul, which has been com- 
pletely developed and formed by culture, but — 
something which might very well be dispensed 
with. 

But religion is either first in importance or of 
no importance whatever. It comes to man to 
adjust his relations with God and his fellow-men, 
and to form and establish his character. Through 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 103 


religion man does not merely come into the pos- 
session of certain kinds of knowledge, but he 
becomes something different from what he is 
without it. Man’s relations to his Creator and 
his neighbor are first. The character is the 
foundation, development follows. Education 
may be acquired by personal effort, culture may 
be developed from the elements within, but 
religion must be communicated to us from God. 
Archbishop Trench, as quoted by Principal 
Shairp, puts in the mouth of an old man, address- 
ing a despondent and wretched youth who had 
sought for years true wisdom, these words: 


“But yet herein you proudly erred, 
Here may the source of woe be found, 
You thought to fling yourself around 
The atmosphere of light and love 

In which it was your joy to move; 
You thought by efforts of your own © 
To take at last each jarring tone 

Out of your life, till all should meet 
In one majestic music sweet; 

And deemed that in your own heart’s ground 
The root of good was to be found, 
And that, by careful watering 

And earnest tendance, we might bring 
The bud, the blossom, and the fruit 

To grow and flourish from that root. 
You deemed you needed nothing more 
Than skill and courage to explore 


104 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES, 


Deep down enough in your own heurt, 
To where the well-head lay apart, 
Which must the springs of being feed, 
And that these fountains did but need 
The soil that choked them moved away, 
To bubble in the open day. 

But, thanks to Heaven, it is not so: 
That root a richer soil doth knew 

Than our poor hearts could e’en supply ;— 
That stream is from a source more high; 
From God it came, to God returns, 

Not nourished from our scanty urns, 
But fed from his unfailing river, 

Which runs and will run on forever.” 


Some have been led to suppose that religion 
and culture are not in harmony by the fact that 
science has already overthrown many favorite 
notions which the representatives of religion 
once tenaciously held. Many superstitious views 
of phenomena which are now easily explained 
on scientific principles were once maintained by 
religious teachers as evidences of the existence 
of invisible spiritual beings and an unseen world. 
To deny these conclusions was to reject the 
Bible. Science has wrought a good work in 
clearing away these excrescences which had ac- 
cumulated about the Christian religion. These 
facts are relied on by some as proofs that there 
is a conflict between science and religion, in 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 105 


which the latter has already been defeated and 
driven back, and must soon quit the field. 
Perceiving that education has already done 
inuch to remove the evils with which the world 
was afflicted, they conclude that it may yet re- 
move all removabie evils. A force which has 
contributed so much to the progress of the race 
will not cease to operate until it has elevated 
man to the highest possible position. That 
which has contributed so much to eradicate su- 
perstition will not have accomplished its benev- 
olent mission until:it has overthrown the last 
vestige of belief in the supernatural. 

This is the reasoning of men who see only a 
half-trnth. Skeptical thinkers, in contributions 
to current periodical literature, in works of fic- 
tion and scientific treatises; endeavor to widen 
the breach and protract the antagonism between 
culture and religion with these and similar argu- 
ments. Over against these facts we place other 
equally patent facts. While education has done 
good, Christianity lias done more good. While 
science has wrested from religious teachiers 
many superstitious notions, it has not yet touched 
Christianity itself so as to lessen its inflnence 
in the least. While culture has made — sue- 


106 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES. 


cessful war against certain things which were 
held in the name of Christianity, it has never 
lifted so much as a finger against the substance 
of Christianity itself. It is worthy of note that 
what skepticism has attacked in the past has 
been in nearly every case not Chiistianity, but 
some caricature of Christianity. Such carica- 
tures have existed in abundance, and we rejoice 
to see them overthrown. 

Many foolish attempts have been made to recon- _ 
cile science and the Bible. Among these the 
most foolish and futile is that which proposes to 
produce harmony by abandoning those things in’ 
the Bible to which scholarly skeptics have seen 
fit to object. For example, unbelievers insist 
that miracles are impossible and absurd in the 
light of the wisdom of our day; lence certain 
weak religious teachers abandon miracles. This 
process once begun cannot well come to an end. 
The doctrines of the existence of Satan and 
future endless punishment are distasteful to 
refined skeptics, and they too must be given up. 
The books of the Old Testament contain so 
many stories hard to be received by intelligent 
unbelievers that they demand a disavowal of all 
these in consideration of their refined tastes and 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 107 


scientific knowledge. Some preachers and theo- 
logical professors, in their eagerness to maintain 
their hold onthecultivated classes, have made one 
concession after another, until the substantial — 
facts on which Christianity rests have been 
thrown aside and not one fragment of spiritual 
religion retained. Then they begin to advocate 
what they are pleased to call liberal Christianity 
or a rational religion. 

Nothing has been gained by this plan of rec- 
onciliation. A celebrated German scholar, who 
is also a close observer, tells us that when ration- 
alism had charge of the pulpits in Germany the 
attendance of the educated classes on the services 
held in the churches was much less than it had 
been before, and less than it is now, since there 
has been a partial return to evangelical preach- 
ing. The same is true in America. Those 
preachers who have abandoned evangelical or 
orthodox views, and turned to liberal Christian- 
ity, have lost their hold on the masses, and gained 
nothing among the educated classes. To make 
such concessions is to destroy the respect of the 
people for the Bible and greatly lessen its influ- 
ence for good. In proportion as the essential 
features of Christianity are sacrificed to a false 


108 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


culture in order to win cultivated people to the 
Church, those very classes lose respect for those 
who, pretending to represent Christianity, be- 
tray it to its enemies for the sake of policy. 
There is a false culture and a false Christian- 
ity. False culture is opposed to true Christian- 
ity, and false Christianity has often stupidly 
antagonized true culture. But true culture and 
true Christianity are both essential to the most 
substantial progress of humanity and can never 
really be antagonistic forces. Many of the best 
and most sanguine advocates of culture have 
been sincere and exemplary Christians. Per- 
ceiving the harmony that exists between these 
two great agents of human advancement, they 
have not only advocated the cause of both, but, 
availing themselves of the advantages of both, 
have risen to the highest place among the leaders 
of thought and benefactors of mankind. Nor 
have they been hindered in their intellectual 
pursuits in the slightest degree by their Chris- 
tian principles. The most successful discoverers 
and inventors, those whose intellects have been 
most fruitful in contributions to the advancement 
of man, have been disciples of Christ—Roger. 
Bacon, Columbus, Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, 


CuLTURE—RELATION 'TO CHRISTIANITY. 109 


and Faraday were men whose intellectual facnl- 
ties had been quickened and enlarged, not only 
by scientific studies, but especially by Christian 
faith. 

During recent years a better understand- 
ing has been brought about between the rep- 
resentatives of Christianity and those of cult- 
ure. While there are still eminent scholars 
and advocates of culture who stoutly oppose 
Christianity, for the most part leading thinkers 
and scholars of our day not only respect the 
Bible, but confess themselves to be disciples of 
Christ. Institutions of learning, in which at the 
beginning of this century there were but few 
students and professors who made a profession 
of religion, are now thoroughly imbued with the 
spirit of Christianity. The fact has frequently 
been pointed out that nearly all the colleges and 
universities in the United States owe their ex- 
istence to and receive their support from the 
Churches. What has done so much for higher 
education in this country as Christianity? On a 
large stone which forms a part of the gate-way 
into the magnificent grounds of Harvard Uni- 
versity, this inscription may be seen: 

“After God had carried us safe to New En- 


110 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


gland and we had builded our houses, provided 
necessaries for livelihood, reared convenient 
places for God’s worship, and settled the civil 
government, one of the next things we longed 
for and looked after was to advance learning and 
perpetuate it to posterity, dreading to leave an 
illiterate ministry to the Church when our pres- 
ent ministers shall lie in the dust.” 

It was the anxiety for a pure and enlightened 
ministry that led to the establishment of the first 
American colleges. The object of John Har- 
vard and those associated with him was to pro- 
mote learning in order that the Gospel might be 
propagated. The act by which Yale College was 
chartered contains these words’as explanatory of 
the pious project: “ The desire of several well- 
disposed persons, their sincere regard to, and 
zeal for, the upholding and propagating the 
Christian Protestant religion by a succession 
of learned and orthodox men; that youth, 
through the blessing of God, might be fitted 
for public employment in church and civil 
state, and that all due encouragement might 
be given to such pious resolutions, and that so 


necessary and religions an undertaking might 
be forwarded.” 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 111 


e 


The history of higher education in the Middle 
States, in the West, and in the South, bears tes- 
timony to the important part taken by Churches 
and Christian people in the noble work. The 
historian of higher education in Indiana says: 
‘‘ As soon as civilization was settled in the new 
country the Christian pioneers who had come to 
the State began the establishment of schools to 
provide for the higher Christian education of 
their young men and women. These men be- 
lieved, with Francis Lieber, that ‘ Christianity, 
considered as a branch of knowledge, constituted 
an indispensable element in a liberal education, 
but that Christianity, taken solely as an_histor- 
ical fact, is incomparably the mightiest fact in 
the annals of human society; that it has tinct- 
ured and penetrated all systems of knowledge, 
all institutions, both civil and exclusively social, 
the laws, languages, and literature of the civil- 
ized nations, their ethics, rights, tastes, and 
wants.’ This influence and this religion they 
conceived it the chief end of education to main- 
tain.” Having looked over the history of higher 
education in many of the States, I am fully per- 
suaded that the origin of the movement, in al- 
most every case, was in the Church of Christ, 


112 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


and the inspiration which has carried it forward 
proceeds from the same source. 

Princeton, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Amherst, 
and other Eastern colleges had a similar origin. 
Of three hundred and seventy-six leading col- 
leges in the United States three liundred and 
twelve have been founded and supported by the 
various Christian denominations. Of the sixty- 
four remaining institutions twenty-three are 
State schools, four are city schools, three mili- 
tary, two agricultural, and one deaf-mute. A 
large part of these sixty-four institutions are 
presided over by Christian ministers, while 
inany of the professors and students are mem- 
bers of Christian Churches. 

According to statistical tables found in Dr. 
Dorchester’s Problem of Religious Progress, 
the property of the denominational colleges is 
more than $68,000,000, while that belonging to 
all other institutions amounts to only a little 
over $21,000,000. So far as financial support 
of institutions for the promotion of higher edu- 
cation is concerned, the Christian Churches have 
done at least three times as much as the cities, 
States, and all other corporations combined. 
Since these statistics were prepared the contri- 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 113 


butions to Christian colleges have vastly in- 
creased. Never before was so much money 
devoted to the cause of Christian education. 
Other facts show more clearly still how strong 
a hold Christianity has on the higher education 
of the country. The number of students in 
Christian schools is constantly and rapidly in- 
creasing. The number of students who are com- 
municants in Christian Churches is increasing 
more rapidly still. At the beginning of this 
century the spirit of infidelity which swept over 
the country invaded the colleges and achieved 
its most notable conquests in educational centers. 
Nearly all young men in the colleges arrayed 
themselves on the side of infidelity and plumed 
themselves on the skill with which they could 
handle the arguments of the celebrated French, 
English, and American champions of unbelief. 
The profession of Christianity was stigmatized, 
and whoever dared avow himself a Christian was 
compelled to suffer persecution. A great change 
has taken place. These institutions of Jearning 
are now thronged with young men who make a 
public profession of faith in Christ, hundreds of 
whom are preparing for the Christian ministry. 


A wholesome spiritual atmosphere pervades thic 
8 


114 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


colleges throughout the land. Revivals of relig- 
ion are frequent, and hundreds of students who 
entered college without religious convictions or 
principles are thoroughly converted before they 
graduate. College presidents, professors, and 
students unite in urging the impenitent to seek 
Christ, and institutions which once were hot- 
beds of infidelity have become centers of relig- 
ious life and power. Several thousand young 
men in these colleges now have offered them-— 
selves as candidates for missionary fields when 
they shall have completed their education and 
the way shall open. All devout Christians will 
fervently pray that the chilly atmosphere of 
skepticism may not again envelop these institu- 
tions of higher education. When a professor in 
a Christian college loses faith in the cardinal 
doctrines of Christianity, and cannot keep his 
doubts to himself, he is sadly out of place, and 
the sooner he resigns the better. | 
Christianity has aided the eause of culture by 
means of its Bible. The Bible stands in the 
front rank of books as a treasury of literary 
gems. It was not written as a literary venture, 
nor did the writers of our sacred Scriptures think 
of achieving literary fame or of enriching the 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 115 


literary stores of the nations; yet they have 
done this as no other authors have ever been able 
todo. Daniel Webster was a great student and a 
great admirer of the Bible, and to his knowledge 
of this book he owed, in a large degree, that rare 
eloquence with which he was able to move the 
Senate of the United States and to win the ad- 
miration of his generation. When Mr. Webster 
was in France he heard a strange story about the 
Bible, which he used to relate with much inter- 
est and amusement. He was told of a French 
skeptic who found among his papers a few loose 
pages of an unknown book. For although he 
had been in the habit of attacking the Bible, he 
had never read it with sufficient care to know 
that the extract he had found was from the 
prayer of Habakkuk. Being a man of fine 
literary taste, he perceived the beauty of his 
prize and hurried away to the literary club with 
this rare treat. His associates united with him 
in admiring the passage and inguired who the 
author could be. “It was written,” said the 
skeptic, “by one whose name was Habakkuk, 
but whose nationality I do not know. Doubt- 
less he was a Frenchman.” Tad he not been 
ignorant of the fact that this gem of literature 


116 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


was written by one of Jehovah's ancient proph- 
ets, and constituted a part of the book which he 
so heartily despised, he would not have been 
able to appreciate its beauty. 

Recently an American writer of rare genius 
had occasion to speak on literature before a 
company of scholars. Speaking of poetry he 
referred to the Bible. Directing the attention 
of his hearers to the first chapter of Genesis, he 
quoted these words: “And God said, Let there 
be light: and there was light,” and added this | 
remark: “How many modern writers would 
have occupied whole volumes in expressing the 
thought which is here couched in one short sen- 
tence! When I seek for fine poetry I go back 
beyond Milton and Shakespeare and Dante and 
Virgil and Homer. I go back to the beginning 
and lay my finger on these words, ‘And God said, 
Let there be light: and there was light” There 
is poetry in the highest degree of perfection.” 

In the historical books of the Old Testament, 
in the poetical books, in the simple and transpar- 
ent discourses of Jesus in the New Testament, in 
- the terse and pungent sentences of Paul, and in 
the sublime imagery of Jolin there is a literary 
beauty and excellence which would insure the 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 117 


translation of the Bible into every important 
language under the sun, even if it had no other 
merit whatever. 

The Bible has contributed largely to form and 
enrich the literature of the most advanced and 
cultivated nations of the globe. It has fur- 
nished subject-matter and materials for the best 
songs known to man. It has supplied topies for 
more thought and study and discussion than all 
other books combined. If all the commentaries 
and treatises and discourses which have been 
written on the Bible and on texts taken from 
the Bible could be collected, they would make 
the largest library in the world. Thousands of 
congregations assemble every Sunday, in many 
lands, to hear discourses on biblical topics and to 
sing Christian hymns. Although this process 
has been going on for centuries millions are 
still eager to read and hear more, and these 
millions belong to the cultivated classes of the 
most highly-cultured nations. Think of a mine 
which has been worked over and over for gen- 
erations, still yielding gold as abundant and as 
good to the last miners as to the first. The Bible 
is a mine which has been worked over and over 
by thinkers and writers from the first verse of 


118 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


Genesis to the last of Revelation for many cent- 
uries; yet it yields treasures of thought as rich, 
as satisfactory, as fresh, to the last student as to 
the first. No other book will bear so much 
study; no other book has contributed so much 
to enrich the thought and to enlarge the mind 
of the greatest nations as the Bible. 

Let any one study the literature of Germany, 
of France, of England, and America, and he will 
be deeply impressed with the important part 
played by Christianity in the formation, devel- 
opment, and improvement of them all. German 
scholarship is rationalistic to a great extent, but 
the written language of Germany was shaped 
by the Gospel. The most ancient monument of 
German literature is the Gothic translation of 
the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas. The New High — 
German, still spoken by the people, was built on 
the foundation of Luther’s translation of the 
Bible. French scholarship is largely skeptical, 
but the French literature owes more to Christian 
theology and thought than to any other source. 
The religious influence is the most important 
factor in French literature. A French writer 
has pointed ont one of the peculiar elements 
which Christianity introd uced into the literature 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 119 


of that country, distinguishing it clearly from 
pagan literature, in these words: “On the part 
of the orators and the wits we have care and 
cunning of expression; on the part of the first 
doctors and Christian writers, interest of matter, 
convictions, a cause for which they contended. 
Hence arises an energetic feature in Christian 
literature and a certain hollowness in pagan 
literature; the latter is elegant and vain; the 
other more loose, but stronger. On the side of 
Christianity are all those champions of the faith 
who fight for it, who repel the successive attacks 
of various heresies. Grand is the spectacle of 
the Church in its infancy, combating, not as it 
has too often combated, by persecution and 
violence, but by talent, by eloquence, by reason.” 
Not only those early combatants, but later de- . 
fenders of the faith and writers who had no con- 
troversy to wage save the controversy which 
God has with those who forsake him, have left 
their mark on French literature. 

English and American literature are not less 
but more indebted to Christianity. The English 
language received a stamp from the various ver- 
sions of the Holy Scriptures no less distinct and 
lasting than that which was given to the language 


120 RELIGION FOR THE ‘lIMEs. 


of Germany by the same means. The noblest 
products of literary genius in England and 
America would have been impossible except 
under the influence of Christian culture and 
thought. If it be said that much of our polite 
literature is the work of minds that never 
acknowledged Christ as Lord, and that many 
great books have been written by the enemies of 
Christianity and some of them for the purpose 
of overthrowing the Gospel, it is still true that 
even these would have been impossible outside 
of Christendom. The fact must not be over- 
looked that the genius of antichristian writers 
was kindled at Christian altars and fed on Chris- 
tian thought. 

Christianity has promoted culture also by 
-means of its missions. We hear much in these 
days about the power of civilization to prop- 
agate itself through commerce and_ schools. 
Christian colleges have indeed done much to ex- 
tend Christian civilization by sending out edu- 
cated missionaries, and commerce has incidentally 
aided in opening the way for the missionary in 
some cases. But the merchant has not done 
half so much to prepare the way for the Gospel 
as the missionary has done to open paths for 


CULTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 121 


commerce into countries lying beyond the pale 
of civilization. European and American mer- 
chants in heathen lands have been so intent on 
making money that they have usually failed to 
elevate the people with whom they came in 
contact. Mercantile establishments have existed 
for centuries on various coasts, and have made 
no attempt to edueate the natives among whom 
they traded. The more the aborigines of these 
pagan lands came in contact with these traders 
from civilized and Christian countries, the more 
degraded have they become. Furnishing the 
savages of Africa with fire-arms and rum in 
exchange for ivory and other articles of com- 
merce, teaching them vices with which before 
they were unacquainted, they have introduced 
new and mighty elements of evil and agents of 
mischief and misery. Contact with civilization 
and culture under these circumstances has be- 
come a hinderance to the mental and moral 
elevation of the heathen. Traveling scholars, 
philosophers, and scientists have made large con- 
tributions to the stock of knowledge at home, 
but have made no attempt to introduce culture 
and improvement among the barbarous natives. 

But the Christian missionary gves abroad 


122 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


with the Gospel in his hand, and brings back 
contributions to education at home, and leaves 
his mark for good on the native tribes whom he 
visits. Missionaries have translated the Bible, 
the chief of the classics, into hundreds of 
languages and taught hundreds of thousands of 
barbarous people to read it, and in reading they 
have received a new life. Grammars and dic- 
tionaries have been constructed by them, and 
they have reconstructed. the languages of the 
heathen and laid the foundations of literature 
among them. They have built schools, colleges, 
and seminaries, introduced printing, periodicals, 
and books, taught thie sciences, and begun the 
work of culture and improvement which will go 
on for ages. As the translation of the Bible 
into German was the nucleus about which a 
splendid German literature has been formed, so 
the translation of the Bible into scores of other 
languages has been the beginning of their litera- 
ture and the chief means of the culture after- 
-ward introduced. Through missionary efforts 
Western ideas have been poured into Eastern 
nations where no progress lad been made for 
centuries. For more than fifty years Hindu 
youth in large and increasing numbers have becn 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 123 


receiving an English education. The base and 
barbarous ideas and practices of the Hindus are 
giving way before the Gospel and Christian 
thought. Not only has a wide-spread thirst for 
knowledge been awakened, but a desire for 
female education has been created. Old things 
are passing away, and all things are becoming 
new. 3 

The missionaries have sent back to Western 
countries more exact information concerning 
lands, peoples, manners, customs, languages, and 
traditions, greatly enriching the treasures of our 
knowledge and making most valuable contribu- 
tions to many branches of science. 

It is not the mission of Christianity to teach 
science, yet the relation between science and 
Christianity is interesting and intimate. It hap- 
pens that science makes most rapid progress in 
Christian countries. The study of this fact will 
lead to several important conclusions. The 
Christian religion awakens thought, quickens 
the intellect, imparts vigor to the mental pow- 
ers, stimulates intellectual energy, and leads the 
mind out to explore the handiwork of God. It 
is only through the religion of Christ that man 
learns what an exalted being he is, what a won- 


124 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES. 


derful God this world has, and how intimate is 
his relation to this mighty God. No sooner does 
man view himself as a son of God, redeemed 
from sin at the cost of the life of Jesus Christ, 
and invited to the most intimate friendship and 
communion with the Creator of the universe, 
than he aspires to know more’ of himself and of 
God and his works. Thus Christianity favors 
the study of science and promotes scientific ex- 
ploration. : 

Christianity fosters science by its principle of 
universal brotherhood. Science is older than 
Christianity, but science and literature and art, 
before Christ, belonged exclusively to the aris- 
tocracy. Among the Greeks and Romans phi- 
losophy and learning were not for the people. 
But Christianity is a popular system. It not 
only belongs to all classes, but it teaches that all 
good things belong alike to all, and makes the 
greatest treasures of the mind the common her- 
itage of the people. Hence, wherever Chris- 
tianity prevails science is cultivated and ex- 
tended more generally than anywhere else. 
Origen says: “The philosophers are physicians 
who heal only the great and rich; Plato, who 
must, however, by no means be depreciated, is 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 125 


read only by men of science and education. 
Christ and his apostles, impelled by love to man, 
sought to gain Greeks and barbarians, wise and 
simple, learned and unlearned. And because 
their teaching was intended for all men, it was 
not to be like the highly seasoned food which 
could be enjoyed only by the luxurious and the 
dainty.” 

This Christian principle has popularized sci- 
ence, art, literature, and education wherever it 
has gained ascendency over men. In Christian 
countries scientific ideas are set forth in simple, 
popular language, published in cheap form, dis- 
seminated among all classes who desire to pos- 
sess them. Scliools are made free and education 
becomes general. It is this Christian principle 
which has popularized education in Germany, 
England, and America. 

Christianity does more. It purifies the means 
of culture and makes them a blessing. Art was 
cultivated among the ancient Greeks and brought 
_toahigh degreeof perfection. Sculpture reached 
a degree of completeness and finish before the 
time of Christ, and in that pagan country, which 
has never been equaled. But the fine arts 
among the Greeks ministered to vice instead of 


126 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


virtue, tended to corruption instead of culture, 
and became a snare instead of a blessing. Ancient 
art, splendid in beauty and finish, appealed to 
the sensual appetites, debauched the tastes, and 
debased the social life of the people. Those 
vices to which Greece and Rome owe their de- 
cline took root in the age when the glory of 
ancient art culminated in Athens. The same 
may be said of ancient literature. 

But Christianity purifies whatever it touches. 
If there be any thing corrupt and debasing in 
modern learning, it is not from Christianity. The 
influence of the Gospel is all too limited among 
us. There is too much in the refinement of 
modern art which does not edify. But the in- 
fluence of Christianity is manifest, not only in 
fostering education, science, and art, but in pre- 
serving them from the elements which destroy. 
Christianity has elevated art by furnishing it with 
the highest and noblest subjects. The great mas- 
ters in painting, in architecture, in music, in 
sculpture, were Christians, and the highest crea- 
tions of their genius are representations of 
Christian thought. 

Culture divorced from religion is no better 
than ignorance. It is a mighty force without 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 127 


proper control and regulation.- The mind ap- 
plied exclusively to the study of science, mere 
intellectual culture without religious principle, 
tends to atheism, materialism, and rationalisin. 
As it is dangerous to devote one’s powers exclu- 
sively to the pursuit of wealth, because it renders 
the mind hard and eartliy, so it is exceedingly 
damaging to the soul to give one’s self up 
wholly to intellectual culture by means of scien- 
tific and secular studies. There is a religious 
side to the mind, a spirit which desires, recog- 
nizes, and enjoys communion with God. But it 
requires a new birth to bring it into living exer- 
cise. It needs the word of God and the Spirit 
of God to quicken it into life and awaken its 
powers to act. There are any whose religious 
powers are dead. “The natural man receiveth 
not the things of the Spirit of God: ... neither 
can he know them, because they are spiritually 
discerned.” They are foolishness to him, but they 
are revealed unto us by God’s Spirit. The intel- 
lect may be cultivated to the highest degree and 
the mind remain wholly ignorant of the things 
which God has provided for them that love him. 
The higher the degree of intellectual culture, the 
closer the mind is applied to scientific studies ; 


128 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


while the heart is not turned to God in Christ, 
the more firmly dves the soul become sealed 
against the voice and the love of God. The religi- 
ous powers wither under this process. They are 
incapable of receiving, appreciating, or enjoying 
religious ideas and experiences. It is not strange 
that religion is foolishness to such a man. 
Gradually he loses even the desire for God, and, 
in a state of self-sufficiency and satisfaction, he 
gropes on through the world as a blind man who 
thinks he can see, as a poor man who believes 
himself rich, as a peasant possessed of the hallu- 
cination that he is king. Such culture makes 
men atheists, materialists, or agnostics. And if 
the principles of atheism or materialism should 
pervade the minds of the educated youth, it 
would be impossible for society to continue long 
to exist. These systems of thought virtually 
ignore all moral responsibility and personal ac- 
countability, and abolish the distinction between 
right and wrong. They obliterate the founda- 
tions of truth and honesty, remove all merit and 
blame from virtue and vice, and leave nothing 
of moral good and evil but the name. 

One of the clearest and strongest arguments 
on this subject I have seen is found in a book, 


CuLTURE—RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 129 


entitled Modern Doubt and Christian Belief, 
by Dr. Theodore Christlieb. The author shows 
conclusively that the certain and necessary tend- 
ency of these various forms of skepticism is to- 
ward the utter destruction of the bonds by 
which alone society can be held together. The 
effort being made in certain quarters to divorce 
religion from culture is one of the most danger- 
ous movements of our times. These would-be 
modern reformers propose, not only to take the 
Bible out of the public schools, but to drive ont 
of the country all Christian schools and banish 
from the minds of all educated men and women 
the last vestige of belief in the supernatural. 
Happily this project has little promise of suc- 
cess so long as unbelievers have so little confi- 
dence in their own principles that they cannot 
be persuaded to pay over any money for their 
dissemination, and so long as Christians show 
their confidence in their Bible and their Master 
by pouring out their money by the million to 
build and endow schools where the principles of 
Christianity shall be inculcated along with the 
teachings of science. There is scarcely an in- 
fidel school in the United States, certainly not 


more than one, having any considerable founda- 
9 


130 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES, 


tion. And infidels will not build schools. They 
talk much about the omnipotence of culture, 
but the Christian Churches are doing more for 
the promotion of education in one week than all 
the infidels in the world have done in twenty 
generations. 


DeEsrT oF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 131 


CHAPTER IV. 


DEBT OF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY, 


Accorpine to Archdeacon Farrar civilization 
means either appliances of comfort, increase of 
knowledge, refinement of arts, discoveries of 
science, diffusion of wealth, and all that may be 
summed up in the words material improvement, 
or else it means purer happiness, greater noble- 
ness, clearer and surer wisdom. “ Civilization,” 
says Pere Hyacinthe, “seems to me to be, in the 
body politic, what health is in thenatural body 
—the result of practical harmony between the 
organic functions and the laws of life.’ John 

tuart Mill tells us that the word civilization 
is commonly used in two senses. A country 
which is more improved, more eminent in the 
best characteristics of man and society is called 
civilized. In another sense civilization stands 
for that kind of improvement which distinguishes 
a wealthy and powerful nation from savages and 
barbarians. 


That the nations where the teachings of the 


132 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


Bible have been most generally accepted and 
practiced are the foremost nations of the 
world, no one disputes. In education, in science, 
in art, in wealth, in morals, in every element of 
progress, they surpass all other countries. This 
prosperity is so manifest that one might easily 
trace the boundaries between Christian and non- 
Christian nations by the difference in culture, in 
refinement, in agriculture, commerce, manufact- 
uring, in material, intellectual, and moral im- 
provement. In some countries Christianity is 
found as the nominal religion, but the Bible is 
not read by the people, and asystem of religious 
ceremonies is substituted for practical Christian- 
ity. The difference between these priest-ridden 
lands, where virtual idolatry is practiced in the 
name of Christianity, and Christian countries, 
where an open Bible is given to the people and 
its precepts enforced by earnest appeals, is not 
much less manifest than the difference between 
Christian and pagan nations. In proportion to 
the freedom with which the word of God has 
been offered to the people and accepted and 
heartily obeyed by them, has been their advance- 
ment in civilization. 

The enemies of Christianity have undertaken 


Dest OF CIVILIZATION TO:-CHRISTIANITY, 133 


to account for the progress of Christian coun- 
tries by attributing their prosperity to the su- 
periority of the stock from which the inhabitants 
have descended, the climate and soil of the lands 
they have inhabited, or some other outward cir- 
cumstance. But this argument has been refuted 
by facts which history has faithfully recorded. 
Of two nations which sprung from a common 
stock, one embraced Christianity, while the other 
fell under the sway of Mohammedanism. The 
-former marches in the front rank of civilized 
and advancing countries, while the other, ener- 
vated and diseased by the errors its people have 
imbibed, hastens downward in remediless decay. 
There are countries which have been highly 
favored by nature in respect to climate, soil, 
and all natural advantages, but they have never 
risen to distinction and power, while others on 
which unfriendly skies have frowned, and where 
the soil was thin and unproductive, have aston- 
ished the world with their achievements and 
progress. The former have been dominated by 
paganism, while the latter have been quickened 
into life and energy by the faith and hope of 
the Gospel. 

Individual men, touched with the spirit of 


134 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


Christianity, manifest a new life. We have 
seen those who were born in poverty and had 
spent their childhood among the most adverse 
environments come to Christ in early manhood 
and begin to drink the spirit of his Gospel. At 
once a change occurred in their principles and 
their lives. They turned about and began to 
walk in a new way. New thoughts, new 
aspirations, new hearts, were imparted to 
them. Laying aside their vices they became 
virtuous, abandoning their idleness they became 
industrious. They became prosperous in_busi- 
ness and accumulated property. They became 
rich in influence and went about doing good. 
Their intellectual faculties felt the touch of the 
new spirit which had entered into and awak- 
ened them. Some. of them have become emi- 
nent as scientists, poets, ministers, and scholars, 
and have shed forth light which has proved a 
lasting benediction to the world. For Jesus 
said, “* I am come that they might have life, and 
that they might have it more abundantly.” 

This larger life which Christ gives to individ- 
uals he also imparts to families, to larger com- 
munities, and to whole nations.. What Christ is 
to the individual soul he is also to the home. 


Dept oF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 135 


Families have been elevated in culture, in 
morals, in material possessions and influence, by 
Christianity as if by magic. The same is true 
of larger communities. Examples can be pro- 
duced of communities in the midst of civilized 
countries in which greater respect was paid to 
Christianity than in the communities round 
about them, with the most manifest and happy 
results. 

The Rey. Dr. Josiah Strong, in Our Country, 
a book which every American citizen should 
read, gives a number of striking illustrations of 
the truth of what we have just said. He gives 
an account of two adjoining townships on the 
Western Reserve, in Ohio, which were settled by 
men of widely different principles, and the fruits 
of the seed then planted remain until this day. 
The southern township was founded by a faith- 
ful Christian home missionary, who sought to 
plant a colony which would become a conspicuous 
example of the utility of the Christian faith and 
a blessing to the whole State. The settlers were 
selected with care, only professing Christians 
becoming land-holders. Public worship was in- 
augurated in the first cabin erected, and has been 
uninterruptedly maintained ever since. A church 


136 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


was soon erected and located in the eenter of 
the community, a symbol of the central position 
of the Gospel in the life of the citizens. Soon 
a school-house was built and an academy fol- 
lowed after the lapse of a very few years. Sev- 
eral benevolent societies were organized, and in 
due course of time the first deaf-mute school in 
the State was opened at this place. 

The settlement in the northern township was 
started by an infidel, who, besides giving to it 
his name, stamped it with his principles. It 
was his expressed purpose that no Christian 
church should ever be built within the town- 
ship and no Christian doctrines ineuleated 
among its inhabitants. Naturally he attracted 
around him men of like views and feelings with 
his own. No church has ever been organized 
there. Education has not flourished in that 
community. Although an excellent college was 
founded within five miles of the boundaries of 
this township, yet Dr. Strong was not able to 
ascertain that any young man from among that 
people had ever taken a college course. Only a 
few of the members of the community have 
ever entered professional life, none of whom 
have attained a wide reputation. But from the 


Dest oF CivitizaTIon TO CHRISTIANITY: 137 
other township comes a far different report. It 
is widely known as a community of high moral 
and religious character, and has sent an excep- 
tionally large number of young people to col- 
lege. It has furnished many members of the 
State Legislature and Senate, has sent out many 
ministers and educators, some of whom have 
achieved a national reputation. It has furnished 
men for college professorships, for the supreme 
bench of the State, and the national Congress. 
Its material prosperity has kept pace with its in- 
‘tellectual and moral advancement. Though the 
northern township has been favored with a bet- 
ter soil, the assessed valuation of real estate and 
personal property in the southern exceeds that 
of the other by fifty-six per cent., and the people 
are no less noted for liberality than for thrift 
and material prosperity. 

The author to whom I am indebted for this 
incident gives other similar cases, one of which 
I am constrained to transfer to these pages. 
“When Northampton, Mass., was settled in 
1654, it was ‘way out West,’ on the frontier. 
Among the early settlers in the then wilderness, 
who shaped the character and history of the town, 
were the Allens, Bartletts, Bridgemans, Clapps, 


138 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES, 


Dwights, Elliotts, Hawleys, Kings, Lymans, 
Mathers, Parsons, Stoddards, Strongs, Tappans, 
and Wrights. The town early became distin- 
guished for its religious character and its educa- 
tional advantages. Jor a century and a quarter 
the entire population, save the very old and the 
very young, the sick and their attendants, were 
found in the church every Sabbath.. In 1735, 
during tlie pastorate of Jonathan Edwards, 
over six hundred, out of a population of eleven 
hundred, were members of the Church. For 
seven generations the impress given by the early 
settlers has remained. Their influence upon 
the community, and that of the community upon 
the State and the nation, may be, in measure, 
estimated from the following record: Among 
the natives and residents of the town there have 
been 354 college graduates, besides 56 graduates 
of other institutions, 114 ministers, 84 minis- 
ters’ wives, 10 missionaries, 25 judges, about 102 
lawyers, 95 physicians, 101 educators, including 
7 college presidents.and 380 professors, 24 edi- 
tors, 6 historians, and 34 authors, among whom 
are George Bancroft, John Lothrop Motley, 
Professor W. D. Whitney, and J. G. Iloiland ; 
38 officers of State, among them 2 governors, 2 


Dersr oF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 139 


secretaries of the commonwealth, 7 senators, and 
18 representatives ; 21 army officers, including 
6 colonels and 2 generals; 28 officers of the 
United States, among them a secretary of the 
navy, 2 foreign ministers, a treasurer of the 
United States, 5 senators, 8 members of Con- 
gress, aud 1 President.” 

Other examples might be mentioned. These 
are sufficient to show that the effects of the 
Christian religion on a small community are 
beneficial, and that these extend through genera- 
tions and include material, intellectual, social, and 
moral improvement. ‘Godliness is profitable 
unto all things, having promise of the life that 
now is.” These beneficial effects of the Gospel 
are not less apparent when we pass from com- 
munities to nations. Great advancement has 
been made during the past fifty years in every 
department of human excellence. Knowledge 
has increased, arts have been cultivated and 
have reached a high degree of perfection, 
sciences have been developed, discoveries have 
been made and inventions devised whereby 
the powers of man have been increased many 
fold, and wealth has been poured into the lap of 
man with great profusion ; but strangely enough, 


140 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES. 


this wonderful progress in every thing that per- 
tains to human welfare is found only in those 
nations where the supreme authority of Jesus of 
Nazareth is recognized.. Every nation where 
uncorrupted Christianity has a strong hold on 
the minds of the people is rising rapidly in ma- 
terial and moral excellence, and no non-Christian 
nation is making progress except as it is operated 
on by influences from Christian nations. 

Let the light of the Gospel enter intoa nation 
of barbarous savages, and a change takes place. 
That people begin to rise. Gradually, as the 
leaven works in the meal, old customs are 
abandoned, old ideas discarded, and a new life 
is manifested. The gifted author of the Hestory 
of Cwilization in England stoutly maintains 
that before religion can do any thing for a bar- 
barous people some intellectual change must first 
take place. With a considerable show of re- 
search and learning, he attempts to prove that 
all nations, where any degree of progress has 
been made, owe their improvement first to in- 
tellectual enlightenment. “We may as well 
expect that the seed should quicken in the barren 
rock,” says he, “as that a mild and philosophic 
religion should be established among ignorant 


DeEbsT OF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 141 


and ferocious savages. Of this innumerable ex- 
. periments have been made, and always with the 
same result. Men of excellent intentions, and full 
of fervent though mistaken zeal, have been, and 
still are, attempting to propagate their own re- 
ligion among the inhabitants of barbarous coun- 
tries. By strenuous and unremitting activity, 
and frequently by promises, and even by actual 
gifts, they have, in many cases, persuaded savage 
communities to make a profession of the Chris- 
tian religion. But whoever will compare the 
triumphant reports of the missionaries with the 
long chain of evidence supplied by competent 
travelers will soon find that such profession is 
only nominal, and that these ignorant tribes 
have adopted indeed the ceremonies of the new 
religion, but have by no means adopted the re- 
ligion itself.” 

In these sweeping statements Mr. Buckle fails 
to distinguish between Catholic and Protestant 
missionary operations. That these things are 
true in the case of Roman Catholic missions does 
not admit of a doubt. A form of Christianity 
has sometimes been imposed on barbarous tribes, 
either by force or by art, while the essence and 
power of the Gospel have been kept out of sight, 


142 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


and those who have thus come to bear the name 
of Christ have been improved but little by the 
change. Mr. Buckle is guilty of another error. 
He has chosen to believe. the statements of 
travelers hostile to Christianity concerning the 
results of missions among barbarians rather than 
the testimony of Christian missionaries. This 
is acommon error. Those who go about as ad- 
venturers, as soldiers, or as merchants are not 
always good witnesses in such cases. By their 
intemperate habits and dishonest dealings among 
ignorant tribes they have imposed serious ob- 
stacles in the way of pure Christianity, have 
hated the missionaries and their work as they 
hate ministers and churches at home. Such 
men always bring back to Europe and America 
unfavorable reports concerning the missionaries 
and their work, and skeptics such as Mr. Buckle 
rejoice in their testimony and make the most 
of it. 

But there are travelers of another type. In- 
telligent and manly explorers, like Henry M. 
Stanley, have gone abroad and returned with a 
good report of the Gospel and its effects. Who- 
ever will take the pains to read Mr. Stanley’s 
admirable volumes will find that this hero of 


Dept or CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 143 


modern travel and exploration, while he some- 
times criticises the methods and questions the 
wisdom of certain missionaries, bears unequivocal 
testimony to the value and substantial fruits of 
their labors, and firmly believes that the hope 
of Africa lies in the dissemination of Christian 
principles. Nor does Mr. Stanley stand alone. 
There is a cloud of witnesses. These are times 
in which men are running to and fro and knowl- 
edge is rapidly inereasing. The facilities of 
travel are so great, the ways into the nations of 
the earth are opened so wide, the disposition to 
travel and the thirst for knowledge have be- 
come so intense, that intelligent men and women 
are penetrating the darkest corners into which 
Christian missionaries have gone with the Gos- 
pel, and we have no lack of witnesses. The 
burden of their testimony is that while, in many 
cases, it is difficult to secure a foothold for the 
Gospel, yet every-where its fruits are both good 
and abundant. ; 

Another glaring mistake must be charged 
against Mr. Buckle. When he declares Christi- 
anity has never entered a barbarous country and 
produced a salutary change, he speaks contrary 
to the facts. There may be some excuse for 


144 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


his error in the fact that he wrote his book in 
1855, and at that time modern Protestant mis- 
sions had only begun to achieve their signal vic- 
tories. Since that date much more has been 
accomplished. Whole tribes have abandoned 
idolatry, laid aside their savage customs, adopted 
the principle of Christianity, and entered on a 
high state of civilization. It is too late now to 
assert that the Gospel has produced no satisfactory 
effect on the condition of savage and barbarous 
tribes. One of the characteristic features of the 
nineteenth century is its missionary movements. 
This century has witnessed greater progress in 
all that contributes to the civilization of the 
world than all former centuries together, and 
among the forces which have produced those pro- 
digious results one of the chief is missionary ef- 
fort. “Inthe foremost rank of powers destined to 
change the face of the world stands Christian 
missions,” says Robert Mackenzie. 

The Bible promotes civilization by exalting 
labor. The difference between the savage and 
civilized races is world-wide. Savage and bar- 
barous tribes live very much like the beasts of 
the forest. Destitute of culture, of government, 
and of the inventions which render life com- 


Dest or CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 145 


fortable among us, they roam over the forests, 
subsisting on game, sleeping under the open sky 
or in rude huts, defending themselves against 
wild beasts and hostile tribes like themselves with 
rude weapons, they seldom or never cultivate 
the soil, have no property in land, and know 
nothing of the splendid industries by which the 
resources of nature are developed and turned to 
useful purposes. Those nomadic tribes which 
pursue the occupation of shepherds, driving their 
flocks from valley to hill-side, have made one step 
in advance, but have not yet begun to fulfill 
those conditions which entitle them to be classed 
among civilized people. It is when men aban- 
don their nomadic life and make for themselves 
settled habitations that civilization begins. Then 
agriculture, which lies at the foundation of civili- 
zation, begins to be developed. The right of 
property in land is recognized, and its owners 
establish settled habitations and draw their sub- 
sistence from the soil. 

Savage and barbarous tribes detest labor. The 
men glory in the chase and in war, and compel 
their women to perform whatever toil may be 
necessary to gain a livelihood. Wherevera low 


grade of civilization prevails labor is looked on 
10 ; 


146 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


with contempt, and usually confined to slaves 
who are kept for that purpose by citizens. 
Among the Greeks and Romans industrial toil 
was regarded as beneath the dignity of freemen. 
Cicero, who as a teacher of morals stands in 
the front rank of pagan philosophers, whose 
doctrines have been by certain modern writers 
favorably compared with those of Christ, says: 
“We are likewise to account as ungenteel and 
mean the gains of all hired workmen, whose 
source of profit is not their art but their labor ; 
for their very wages are the consideration of their 
servitude. We are likewise to despise all who 
retail from merchants goods for prompt sale ; 
for they never can succeed unless they lie most 
abominably. Now nothing is more disgraceful 
than insincerity. All mechanical laborers are 
by their profession mean. For a workshop can 
contain nothing befitting a gentleman.” 
Christianity places peculiar honor on industrial 
pursuits. The great Founder of our religion 
dignified labor by pursuing the voeation of a 
mechanic, and Paul, the chief of his apostles, 
labored with his own hands that he might re- 
lieve those to whom he ministered from the 
burden of his support. In the fourth command- 


DEBT oF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 147 


ment labor was enjoined as a duty on all the 
children of Jacob. In the Book of Proverbs the 
man who is diligent in business and skilled in 
work has the promise that he shall stand before 
kings, and one of the virtues of the honored 
housewife is a willingness to work with her 
hands. When the King of Babylon carried 
the Jews away into captivity he found among 
them an astonishing multitude of craftsmen and 
smiths. Agriculture became the chief occupa- 
tion of the Hebrews after their settlement in 
Canaan, and the basis of their civil life, and was 
earried on by the high as well as the lowly. 
The precepts and principles of Christianity sane- 
tified honest toil, which lies at the foundation 
of national progress. 

Christianity promotes civilization also by es- 
tablishing the home on a pure and solid basis. 
No sooner do men begin to till the soil than they 
begin also to occupy settled dwelling-places. 
Each man becomes the head of a family. The 
character of the home has much to do with the 
civilization. Nothing is more important, and no 
system of philosophy or law has given to man 
homes of such a high order as Christianity. 
The idea found in the philosophy aad jurispru- 


148 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


dence of Greece and Rome and China is that . 
the State existed before the family and that the 
family received its constitution, its laws, its char- 
acter, from civil government; that the power of 
civil society over the internal affairs of domestic 
life is absolute and unlimited. The State decided 
the rights and duties of husbands and wives and 
took charge of the lives of the chiidren. 

The Christian idea is far different. According 
to the Bible the race begins with the family, and 
about this center the State is built. Civil gov- 
ernment exists for the family, and not the family 
for the State. The mission of the State is not 
to organize the family, but to recognize and _ pro- 
tect it; not to make laws for the family, but to 
recognize the laws which existed in the family 
before the State had a being, and to guard it 
from the invasion of the lawless. We are cow- 
manded to pray for rulers and those who are in 
authority, that we may lead a peaceable life in all 
godliness and honesty. 

Christianity establishes the home on a solid 
basis by elevating woman to her proper position. 
We need not be told what is the condition of 
woman in uncivilized countries, or even under 
forms of civilization found beyond the influence 


Dest oF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 149 


of the Gospel. Polygamy, which prevails in 
Asiatic countries, is essentially degrading to both 
man and woman, and especially to the latter. In 
Rome, where civilization reached its highest 
stage before the time of Christ, the debased con- 
dition of women can be inferred from the laxity 
of the marriage contract and the shameless licen- 
tiousness which was practiced openly, and which 
displays itself in literature and in art. The 
specimens of art exhumed with the buried city 
of Pompeii, the vain efforts of the rulers to re- 
strain divorce, the testimony of both pagan and 
Christian writers, is sufficient evidence that even 
in imperial Rome woman, though not enslaved 
as in other countries, occupied a position worse 
than slavery. 

There are skeptics among us who affect to be- 
lieve that Christianity debases every thing it 
touches, and strenuously assert that woman, in- 
stead of being elevated and improved, has been 
degraded by the religion of Christ. Those who 
say such things know little of the condition of 
woman outside of Christian influence. Perhaps 
Japan is the most progressive and enlightened 
non-Christian nation on the globe, and the life 
of woman under Japanese civilization will give 


150 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


some idea of the best that has ever been done 
for her beyond the boundaries within which the 
teachings of the Bible prevail. A letter from an 
American in Japan, printed in the New York 
Tribune recently, furnishes so striking an illustra- 
tion of my thought that it is here given in full: 

“Even in Japan, a country which is so lond 
and importunate in its demands for recognition 
as a civilized nation, and concerning the enlight- 
enment and progress of whose inhabitants so 
much has been written, contempt for woman 
prevails. I witnessed a quaint illustration of 
this on the occasion of my arrival at Yoko- 
hama. Within an‘hour after landing I made my 
way to the principal riative hotel to lunch witha 
Japanese fellow-traveler, who, after spending 
several years in one of the great capitals of Eu- 
rope as embassador of the mikado, had been 
called home to assume the presidency of the sen- 
ate. AsI entered the long, low room that consti- 
tuted the salon @honneur of the establishment, I 
became a witness of the meeting between his 
Oriental excellency and the members of his fam- 
ily and household, who had come down from 
Tokio to greet their lord and master. The lat- 
ter was standing before a mirror at the further 


Dept oF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 151 


end of the room brushing the exceedingly scanty 
remnants of his hair with a pair of magnificent 
ivory and silver hair-brushes of European manu- 
facture and of gigantic dimensions. While thus 
engaged there entered from another door a pro- 
cession of ladies and children, every one of them 
crawling on all fours. The foremost of them 
was an elderly dame of princely lineage and 
high rank, who was the wife of the ex-embassa- 
dor. She was followed by a couple of younger 
women, the deputy wives, or Hagars, if I may 
be permitted to style them thus, of this diplo- 
matic Abraham. The remainder of the prostrate 
cortege was made up of cousins and aunts and 
of children of the wife and deputy wives. 
Every two or three yards the whole procession 
would halt, touch the floor with their foreheads, 
and after drawing a deep breath in token of re- 
spect, would express, in the most deferential lan- 
guage, hopes that their lord had had a pleasant 
voyage and that he had enjoyed his stay abroad. 
When they reached the middle of the room they 
stopped, and after a few more utterances of the 
same nature, retreated with the same obeisances. 
During the entire interview, which lasted about 
eight minutes, the ex-embassador did not turn 


152 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


his head once to look at his family, but remained 
with his back toward them, brushing his hair 
before the glass, and replying in almost con- 
temptuous monosyllables to the greetings ex- 
tended to him by his nearest and dearest relatives 
after his absence in Europe of almost four years. 
Subsequently, when together with a number of 
other gentlemen, both native and foreign, I at- 
tended a banquet to which he invited us at his 
yashiki, at Tokio, I had another opportunity of 
observing the manner in which the most courte- 
ous and polished of the Orientals treat their 
womankind. Toward the close of the repast, 
which was served European fashion, a sliding 
door was pushed aside, and there entered on all 
fours, like an animal, the lady of the house, the 
wife of the president of the Senate. With the 
many deprecatory smiles and long-drawn breaths, 
in token of profound respect, she bade the assem- 
bled guests of her husband a how-do-you-do that 
was couched in the most humble of language. 
Imagine for a moment the dainty wife of the 
President of the United States receiving her hus- 
band’s guests in this manner! Having been but 
a short time in the country and comparatively 
ignorant of Japanese etiquette, I was about to 


Dest oF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 152 


rise to my feet, when my neighbor pulled me 
down on my chair again, and [ noticed that no 
one present had considered it worth while to 
get up or even to bow an acknowledgment to 
the old lady’s salutations. Meanwhile, our host, 
pointing backward over his shoulder with his 
thumb, introduced her to us somewhat in the 
following fashion : | 

“Gentlemen, this is my wife. You see she 
is not very beautiful nor clever, and she is old 
and unattractive. But, such as she is, I respect- 
fully submit her to your kind consideration.’ 

“This extraordinary presentation was further 
accentuated by a number of long-drawn breaths 
and prostrations to the ground on the part of the 
kneeling dame. 

“No further notice was taken of her presence, 
and after a few minutes she withdrew as she had 
come—on all fours. Toward the close of the 
banquet the president offered us some most ex- 
quisite cigars, which he described in much the 
same language that he had used concerning his 
wife. That is, he requested us to pardon him 
for submitting to our consideration such inferior 
tobacco. This manner of depreciating one’s 
property. with the object of diminishing the 


0154 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES, 


sense of obligation on the part of the persons to 
whom it is presented is the quintessence of 
courtesy toward the strangers, but scarcely so 
toward the wife, who is thus placed on the same 
level of a mere inanimate object—one, too, that 
consists of poison, and which ends in ashes and 
smoke.” 

Into the midst of such abominations Christian- 
ity was introduced, with its exalted ideas of mar- 
riage, of virginity, of womanhood. ‘These prin- 
ciples were not only preached, they were also 
practiced by the followers of Christ. As they 
have gained ascendency among the nations wo- 
man has risen to a higher plane of honor and 
life. In the foremost Christian nations to-day 
woman is the companion and equal of man, 
occupying with him a common throne in the 
home, where her influence, her sway, her life, is 
royal, receiving her education at a school of 
equal grade with that where he pursues hisstudies, 
often sitting with him’ in the same classes and 
receiving her diploma from the same hand. 
Woman in England and America is found in the 
school, not only as scholar, but teacher ; in stores, 
not only as purchaser and clerk and book-keeper, 
but proprietor; on the farm, not as laborer, but 


Dept oF CrviILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 155 


owner; in society, not as the idol or toy of 
man, but his associate and peer, engaging in 
elevating and instructive conversation with vi- 
vacity of intellect and eloqrence of speech and 
purity of thought which have been fostered 
by Christian institutions. 

Society among us, in all its branches, owes 
much to Christianity ; but woman, most of all, is 
indebted to it for the mighty change wrought in 
her condition. Let her appreciate this blessing, 
preserve it for future generations, and transmit it 
unsullied to her children. When woman aban- 
dons Christ she abandons her best friend, and 
sinks back into the state in which he found her. 
Certain women who owe their present attain- 
ments and advantages to Christianity have, con- 
sidering themselves still in bondage because they 
cannot exercise all the civil functions which 
have been accorded to man, set themselves to 
overthrow the Bible and the Church, dreaming 
fondly that in so doing they will achieve what 
they are pleased to term the emancipation of 
their sex. Because Paul has written certain 
precepts concerning the subjection of wives to 
their husbands, they insist that he belongs to the 
ancient order of teachers whose doctrines, long 


156 RELIGION FOR THE "Times. 


since outgrown by the race, only tend to prevent 
progress and drag humanity down. Hence they 
tell us we must get rid of Paul and the Bible 
before woman can be free. 

Others who do not go so far, yet. influenced by 
this spirit and misled by the sophism that since 
woman has blessed every sphere into which she 
has been admitted by the march of modern civil- 
ization, therefore she should enter every sphere 
with man, deem that until she does this she is not 
free. An eminent Christian scholar, president 
of one of our great universities, has recently 
written a series of articles in a leading religious 
journal to prove that as man and woman are 
complements of each other, the highest form of 
civil and religious society requires that they 
should be associated together in every place of 
honor, trust, and duty. Women should vote at 
the polls, sit in legislative halls, be admitted to 
the bar, the ministry, the councils of the Church, 
and do every thing that man does. 

There may be some truth underlying this 
theory, but there is much dangerous error. The 
clamor which we hear in these days about ad- 
mitting women to all the vocations of man in 
order to be consistent should go on and show us 


Dest or CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 157 


how admirably men are adapted to oceupy the 
position and perform the work which has here- 
tofore been done by women almost exclusively. 
Men might care for infants and superintend the 
parlor and the kitchen, but it is a sad emergency 
which requires it and a great misfortune that 
they are ever compelled to undertake it. So we 
must concede that women can take the place of 
men in almost every sphere. A woman has la- 
bored in the field, in the mine, and in the factory. 
She has supported her children when widowhood 
or a dissipated husband made it necessary, but 
it is a sad emergency that requires it. We could 
wish it might never be so with our wives and 
daughters. Nature teaches that, while the man 
and woman were created to work together, their 
fields of labor are to be identical only in part. 
The bearded face, the harder muscle, the deeper 
voice, mark the man for the field, the forum, the 
place of power. He is the provider, defender, 
ruler. The gentler touch, the sweeter voice, the 
milder countenance of woman mark her for the 
home, the hearth, the place of tenderer minis- 
tries and more angelic influences. Mental char- 
acteirstics correspond to physical, and indicate a 
similar division of sphere and life. 


158 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


It is not a question of superiority, but of fitness. 
It is not a question of freedom, but of place. 
Man is not excluded from the home because 
woman reigns there, nor is woman limited to 
the hearth because that is her throne. The nice 
questions concerning the rights of man in the 
home and of woman in the field will be easily 
adjusted between husband and wife in the family, 
and between the sexes generally in social and 
elvil life. Rigid laws cannot be formulated, ex- 
act precepts cannot be enunciated covering par- 
ticular acts and movements. Christian principle, 
interpreted and applied by common sense, must 
determine in each case. Modest women and 
prudent men will not push these delicate ques- 
tions and engage in unseemly scrambles for 
supposed honors or rights. 

It is to be feared that the strife for political 
and ecclesiastical positions on the part of women 
is the outcropping of a spirit of rebellion, not 
against cruel tyranny, but divine order. Grow- 
ing up with advancing civilization there is a 
spirit of revolt against the hardships and sacri- 
fices of motherhood. Intelligence produces 
wealth, wealth begets luxury, and luxury effemi- 
nacy. Women who have been brought up amid 


Dest oF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 159 


- 


the luxuries of a high degree of civilization 
sometimes yield reluctantly, if they yield at all, 
to the yoke of domestic duty. They desire a 
freedom from care, toil, and sacrifice, and cer- 
tain conspicuousness of life which they cannot 
have in the home properly conducted. Under 
these circumstances both men and women shun 
marriage, and many women who marry refuse to 
accept the burdens of motherhood. The more 
women insist on going out into the places of men, 
the more do they foster this spirit of revolt 
against the holiest calling and office of humanity. 
This is one of the perils of modern civilization. 
Wealth has increased. Educational advantages 
have multiplied. Every opportunity for the 
young is afforded. But the young do not mul- 
tiply rapidly among the wealthy. In thousands 
of homes children are not welcome. Against 
this spirit the religion of Christ lifts up an un- 
compromising protest. If our civilization is to 
be saved from ignominious defeat at this point 
it must be by the influence of Christian teaching. 

Another feature of Christianity by which a 
high order of civilization is promoted is the em- 
phasis it lays on the importance of the individ- 
ual human being. M. Guizot, in his Zstory of 


160 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


Civilization in Europe, says that civilization 
embraces two elements—the improvement of 
society and the improvement of the man. Of 
these two developments he holds that the former 
is the means and the latter the end. Society was 
made to advance the individual, and not the in- 
dividual to advance society. All are aware that 
these two are reciprocal. The improvement of 
the individual contributes also to the improve- 
ment of society, and every individual is aided 
by whatever advances general culture; but the 
ultimate end of all advancement is the progress 
of the individual soul. In all other forms of 
civilization besides that which Christianity pro- 
duces the individual has been swallowed up in 
society and in the State. In Greece and Rome, 
in Persia, Babylon, and Egypt the individual 
was nothing, civil society every thing. Children 
were born and educated for the State. Great 
armies, masses of citizens, were important, but 
the individual had no rights which the State was 
bound to respect save as by so doing it might 
advance its own interests. In China, with its 
boasted order and education, the individual is 
nothing except as he can serve the State. The 
emperor is distinguished as the Son of Heaven 


Dest or CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 161 


because he represents the State. All men have 
readily accorded honor to kings, conquerors, and 
mighty men because of their representative 
capacity, but to men as individuals they have 
shown no honor. 

The Gospel reverses all this. “Honor all 
men” is the injunction of the apostle. Rulers 
and captains occupy a common level with sub- 
jects and servants. There is no respect of per- 
sons with God. The individual is supremely im- 
portant. The State is nothing, society is nothing, 
nations are nothing, only as they serve to elevate 
individuals. Each man is made in the image of 
God, possesses an immortal soul, and tends to 
an eternal destiny. Each one, be he ruler or 
subject, master or slave, is himself subject to 
the King Immortal, invisible. Each must 
stand before him and give account of his 
stewardship. 

Out of this doctrine of the supreme impor- 
tance of the individual have sprung some of the 
best features of our modern Christian civiliza- 
tion. Human life is sacred. Not only is the 
life of the king and the magistrate securely 
guarded, but the life of each child. Whether 


he be sick or well, weak or strong, deformed 
11 


162 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


or well favored, idiot or genius, poor or rich, 
profitable to the State or unprofitable, his life is 
equally sacred and securely guarded. This great 
fact is the fruit of Christian truth. Education is 
generally diffused in proportion to the preva- 
lence of this great idea. The supreme impor- 
tance of the individual carries with it the right 
of each to educational opportunities. In other 
countries education is for the State, in Chris- 
tian countries it is for the individual. In China 
they educate boys to serve the government, in 
America and England and Germany we educate 
boys and girls for their own sakes, that grander, 
nobler men and women may be raised up. In 
China, as formerly in Rome, education is encour- 
aged and supported by individuals and by prov- 
inces in order to make the State glorious, but in 
America education is promoted and maintained 
by the State in order to make individual men 
and women glorious. 

This Christian idea has overthrown slavery. 
That slavery is a curse alike to the slave, the 
master, and the nation needs noargument. This 
curse clung to all the nations of the East de- 
spite their advancement in civilization. It was 


defended by philosophers, protected by legisla- 


Dest or CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 163 


tors, and considered indispensable to the pros- 
perity of the State. That slavery and the slave- 
trade have been practiced with the sanction of 
modern so-called Christian governments must be 
with shame confessed. But to Christianity is 
due the credit for introducing those principles 
of social justice which finally led to the abolition 
of slavery in all the great nations of modern 
times, and, with the combined efforts of these 
nations, promises soon to put an end to the in- 
iquitous traffic in human beings forever. At this 
time a treaty has been signed by the representa- 
tives of seventeen great nations, including En- 
gland, Germany, France, and the United States, 
making provision for a united effort to end 
the slave-trade in Africa, which has been 
carried on for centuries by wandering tribes 
from Arabia. 

Christianity did not aim to abolish slavery 
with a stroke. In the nature of things this would 
have been impossible without revolution and 
most shocking scenes of bloodshed. Slaves were 
not counseled to abandon their masters or revolt 
against their condition, but rather to submit and 
obey except when required to do wrong. But 
Christianity inculeated such principles as imme- 


164 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


diately moderated the severity with which slaves 
were treated and led gradually, but certainly, to 
its complete abolition. Before the doctrines of 
the universal brotherhood of mankind and the 
infinite value, grandeur, and importance of each 
human soul slavery has almost entirely faded 
from the earth. Even in modern times and in 
Christian nations the mercenary spirit has at 
times so far overshadowed the Spirit of Christ 
that millions of human beings have been held 
in bondage, in some cases by men_ professing 
faith in Christ. The institution of slavery has 
been defended by arguments drawn from the 
Bible. . 

But that day has past forever. It was the 
opposition of Christians to slavery that created 
the sentiment which swept it away. It was by 
arguments drawn from the word of God that the 
death-blow was dealt against this peculiar insti- 
tution. It was the power of the Christian im- 
pulse that emancipated the slaves of the United 
States, enacted the law of progressive liberation 
in Brazil, and made twenty million serfs free in 
Russia. From first to last the operation of 
Christianity can be traced in this wonderful 
movement. ‘The most prejudiced historians no 


Dest oF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 165 


longer deny that to Christianity is chiefly due 
the credit for the abolition of human slavery. 

The teachings of Christ are opposed to war, 
and when sufliciently prevalent will cause this 
scourge of nations to cease. War is the glory 
of the savage. Among barbarous tribes a man 
is honored in proportion to the number of hu- 
man beings he has killed in battle. The civiliza- 
tion of ancient nations was but little better in 
this respect than the barbarism of the savages. 
Among the Greeks an ancient maxim existed 
that trophies taken from the enemy in battle 
were the most acceptable offerings one could 
present in the temples of the gods. From the 
first Christianity antagonized this idea. The 
early Christian teachers, not only emphasized the 
peaceful tone of the doctrines of Christ, but 
perhaps carried them to an extreme not intended 
by their divine Author. They insisted that the 
profession of arms was incompatible with the 
profession of faith in Christ, and it is said that 
the Diocletian persecution was caused by the in- 
dustrious dissemination of this doctrine on the 
part of the disciples of Christ. 

Gradually, however, this view was abandoned 
and Christians imbibed the military spirit and 


166 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


Christian teachers encouraged the use of military 
force as a means of extending the kingdom of 
God. It is because the spirit of the world took 
possession of the visible Church that it became 
the means of encouraging war instead of the 
cause of its abolition. For thousands of years 
ecclesiastical influence did actually increase 
rather than diminish the number of wars. Not- 
withstanding this the teachings of Christianity 
did even during the same period diminish ma- 
terially the atrocity with which wars were 
waged and improve the condition of the van- 
quished. The treatment received by captives 
became less cruel and the means of achieving 
victories less barbarous. As the spirit of the 
world which for ages held sway in the Church, 
almost completely eclipsing the mild and pacific 
principles of its great Founder, is thrown off, 
and the pure light of his truth is permitted to 
shine from the pulpit and through the Church, 
wars become less frequent and less inhuman. 
No one can fail to see that among the leading 
nations where Christianity has the largest in- 
fluence war has manifestly fallen into disfavor. 
The nations of Europe and America do not now 
rush eagerly to arms under slight provocation, as 


Dest oF CIVILIZATION TO CHRISTIANITY. 167 


has been the custom of nationsin the past. They 
are finding other and wiser methods of adjusting 
their differences. Within the past year a con- 
gress of representatives of nearly all the American 
nations met in Washington and agreed upon a 
treaty which commits them to submit all their 
international difficulties to arbitration, and this 
treaty has been ratified by the several govern- 
ments represented. This is a long step toward 
_ the abandonment of war as a means of settling 
international disputes. Other families of na- 
tions will be sure to follow the good example 
thus set by America, and, although we may not — 
hope that men shall learn war no more, we may 
and do expect that a better day has dawned on 
the nations of the earth. And whence does this 
dawn arise? This important step has not been 
taken except by nations which have been 
touched and warmed by the rays of the Sun 
of Righteousness. This movement is made pos- 
sible by that broad philanthropy which the 
Gospel alone inculeates. The exclusiveness 
and narrowness which looks on all men who 
are outside of the pale of one’s own country 
as foes is giving way before the onward march 
of Christian truth. The spirit of Christianity 


168 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES. 


overleaps all national boundaries and seeks to 
bind the nations of the earth together in a com- 
non sisterhood because all men are children of 
one Father and made of one blood. 

General diffusion of Christian thought and 
principles will overcome the perils which arise 
from a high degree of civilization. There is 
danger in prosperity. Many forget that out- 
ward elements of progress and strength are 
worthless without the inward spirit of manhood 
and womanhood which can alone make a nation 
great and strong. They point to our great 
cities, our flourishing commerce and thriving 
manufactures, our rapidly developing and ap- 
parently exhaustless agricultural and mineral 
resources, our railroads, telegraphs, printing- 
presses, our schools, colleges, universities, libra- 
ries, and othereducational facilities, our aboundin g 
and rapidly increasing wealth, our men of genius 
and culture, the advancement in arts and sciences, 
and say, “ Behold this great and mighty nation 
which we have builded!” But the sight of these 
things should be a warning as well as an encour- 
agement. When Greece and Rome and Babylon 
had reached their highest stage of civilization 
the seeds of corruption of which they perished 


Dept or CrymizaTiIon To CHRISTIANITY, 169 


were dropping from these boughs of plenty and 
of glory under which they rejoiced. The ele- 
ments of their strength were the causes of their 
ruin. 

Our wealth, our great and mighty cities, our 
superior culture, our boasted freedom, are frau ght 
with perils from which only a high degree of 
moral excellence can save us. Never was relig- 
ion more needful to a nation than it is to ours. 
We must now choose between a wise and proper 
use of precious possessions and a shameful ship- 
wreck through self-decay. The temptations 
growing out of the dominion which mind has 
achieved over matter are appalling. Christian- 
ity is our only safe anchor. Culture and knowl- 
edge without God are stolen blessings, like the 
forbidden fruit which opened the eyes of Eve, 
but filled her heart, her home, and her life with 
pain. The highest, the safest civilization is the 
result of the union of human culture and im- 
provement with divine blessing and help. When 
_ men shall bring the fruits of their civilization 
and cast them at the feet of Christ and crown 
him Lord of all, and, with his Spirit in their 
hearts, feel and acknowledge the higher bond 
that binds all men in one family, then shall the 


170 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


kingdom of God be established among men and 
the highest civilization possible to humanity be 
ushered in. 


“ Bring us the higher example; release us 
Into the larger coming time: 

And into Christ’s broad garment piece us, 
Rags of virtue as poor as crime, 

National selfishness, civic vaunting. 


“No more Jew or Greek then taunting 
Nor taunted; no more England nor France; 
But one confederate brotherhood, plauting 
One flag only, to make the advance, 
Onward and upward, of all humanity; 


“For, fully developed, Christianity 

Is civilization perfected. 

‘Measure the frontier,’ shall be said? 
‘Count the ships,’ in national vanity ?— 
Count the nation’s heart-beats sooner.” 


THE PILLAR OF THE STATE, 171 


CHAP TERY, 
THE PILLAR OF THE STATE. 


Tue Christian’ religion touches every thing 
that pertains to the welfare of man. Its require- 
ments are not limited to acts of worship, but ex- 
tend to all our acts and thoughts. Its benefits 
are not confined to the Sabbath and the soul 
and the world to come, but they are found in 
every week-day and in all the affairs of this 
world. Our secular, civil, and domestic interests 
come within the scope.of the teachings and 
provision of the Gospel. Preaching Christianity 
is preaching righteousness in all possible human 
relations, and practicing Christianity is practicing 
righteousness in all the pursuits of life. 

Christianity sanctions human government and 
elevates it to the plane of a divine institution. 
Writing to the Christians at Rome, Paul says : 
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher pow- 
ers. For there is no power but of God: the 
powers that be are ordained of God. Whao- 
soever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth 


172 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


the ordinance of God: and they that resist: shall 
receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are 
not a terror to good works, but to the evil. ... 
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only 
for wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.” The 
apostle writes to these Roman disciples concern- 
ing their duty as citizens of the empire. Nero 
was on the throne. Paul may have suspected that 
the followers of Christ, reckoning themselves the 
subjects of one King, even Jesus, might consider 
themselves free from all other authority, and 
especially that of such a tyrant as Nero and the 
cruel and unreasonable magistrates who bore 
the sword under him. But the apostle corrects 
all such erroneous views both for his own time 
and for all time. Christianity does not antago- 
nize nor subvert human government. The king- 
doms of this world are not incompatible with 
the kingdom of Christ, even when the principles 
of their administration are not altogether 
righteous. The Gospel of Christ does not annul 
the authority of unrighteous rulers over those 
whose citizenship is inheaven. On the contrary, 
it confirms the rights of rulers and insists on the 
obedience and loyalty of all citizens, and pro- 
nounces its condemnation on those that resist. 


Tue PILLAR OF THE STATE. 173 


God has not only sanctioned human govern- 
ment in his word, but he declares that it is one 
of his ordinances. ‘There is no power but of 
God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” 
But what shall be said of corrupt governments 
and tyrannical rulers? Are they ordained and 
sanctioned of God? These are examples of the 
abuse of divine and useful institutions. God has 
not ordained the abuse, but the power. Not the 
exercise of the power, but the appointment of it, 
must be attributed to the Almighty. The insti- 
tution of marriage furnishes an illustration. 
God ordained marriage, but men abuse it. _It is 
absurd to say that God is the author of every 
particular marriage, but he is the author of 
the institution of marriage. And so of govern- 
ment. God must not be held responsible for 
every particular government and the administra- 
tion of every ruler. He has not taken it on 
himself to uphold and defend wicked rulers. 
But the institution of human government is his 
own ordinance and is as sacred as any other 
divine institution on earth. On this ground 
the apostle counsels obedience to existing au- 
thority. 

Human government is necessary to human 


174 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


society and human happiness. Where there is 
no magistracy and no authority there is anarchy. 
No more awful state of things can exist than is 
found where every man does that which is right 
in his own eyes. One has said: “ Never did 
sovereign prince pervert justice as Nero did, and 
yet Paul appealed to him and under him had 
the protection of the law and the inferior magis- 
trates more than once. Better bad government 
than none at all.” Jehovah isa God of order, 
and not confusion. In the material world he 
has established laws and maintains the most per- _ 
fect order and harmony. He designs to have 
order among the children of men ; hence he has 
ordained that laws shall be enacted and enforced, 
that the disobedient shall be punished and the 
obedient enjoy the blessings of protection and 
peace, | 

Christianity becomes a powerful ally of the 
State by encouraging patriotism and requiring 
submission and obedience to properly consti- 
tuted authority on the part of the people. The 
passage already quoted proves this proposition. 
Others, equally explicit, enjoin on all subjects 
loyal obedience to, and support of, the govern- 
ment. The enemies of our Lord sought to en- 


Tue PILLAR OF THE STATE. 175 


trap him in his words and array him against the 
Roman government. They came to him with 
this inquiry: “Is it lawful to pay tribute to 
Cesar or not?” This question presented itself 
in the nature of a dilemma. Answer which way 
he would his tempters supposed he would be 
caught inasnare. If he should say, “It-is law- 
ful,’ he would offend the Jews, who believed 
that the yoke of Ceesar was unjust and cruel, 
and not to be endured except under dire com- 
pulsion. If, on the other hand, he should reply, 
“Tt is not lawful,” he would embroil himself 
with the Romans, who would soon bring him to 
answer to a charge of treason. Under these per- 
plexing circumstances the answer of Jesus was 
ready. He says neither yea nor nay, but, “ Show 
me a penny.” And when the coin had been 
produced, he said, “‘ Whose image and superscrip- 
tion is this?” They say unto him, “ Cesar’s.”’ 
Then said he, “ Render therefore unto Cesar 
_ the things which are Ceesar’s; and unto God the 
things that are God’s.” Although Jesus was 
the only begotten Son of God ; although to him 
was given all power in heaven and earth, he set 
an example of loyalty to the State and enjoined 
obedience to magistrates. 


176 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


In the First Epistle of Peter we read this pre- 
cept: “Submit yourselves to every ordinance 
of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the 
king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto 
them that are sent by him for the punishment 
of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do 
well.” It is worthy of note that the motive to 
obedience is here put on an exalted plane. It is 
for the Lord’s sake. One way to secure the 
glory of our Lord among men is to submit to the 
authority of civil rulers, obey the laws, and pay 
the taxes imposed by the government. In all 
nations, the disciples of Christ have distinguished 
themselves as good citizens. They have com- 
pelled men to respect the Gospel which imparted 
to them such noble qualities of citizenship. 
There may come a time when submission is no 
longer required, but this is the exception. It is 
only when tyranny and cruelty have been carried 
to a high degree, when every other measure for 
redress has been tried in vain, and when there 
is a reasonable hope that resistance may im- 
prove the condition of the oppressed and their 
descendants—then the powers that be should be 
resisted. 

Not only submission and obedience to rulers, 


Tur PILLAR OF THE STATE. 177 


but prayer for them is also required of the 
Christian. Paul says to Timothy: “I exhort 
therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, 
intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for 
all men ; for kings, and for all that are in au- 
thority ; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable 
life in all godliness and honesty.” While others 
are speaking evil of magistrates and legislators 
and governors Christians are commanded to pray 
for them. Ferms of prayer have been adopted 
by some Christian denominations in which peti- 
tions for rulers occur and are regularly offered. 
In all Churches those who are in authority are 
remembered in prayer, and how much of the 
good that exists in the State is due to these 
prayers, and how often the curse is turned aside, 
who shall say ? 

Patriotism is a cardinal virtue, a natural in- 
stinct encouraged and directed by the word of 
God. Thomas Corwin once said he objected: to 
the Bible because it did not inculeate the virtue 
of patriotism. Mr. Corwin was an admirer and 
a student of the Bible, not because he wished 
to practice its precepts, but because of its liter- 
ary excellence and because of the help it afforded 


him in his profession. But he must have read 
13 


178 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


the Bible carelessly indeed not to have found in 
it one lesson of patriotism. The historical and 
prophetic books of the Old Testament abound in 
touching references to Jerusalem and the land 
of Canaan, the special gift of Jehovah, the pride 
and delight of the children of Jacob. From the 
time the Hebrews set foot on the land of prom- 
ise their literature breathes the spirit of a deep 
and undying attachment to their own country. 
And when, on account of their transgressions, 
the Lord God caused them to be carried away 
into captivity, they still turned with loving, long- 
ing hearts to the land where their fathers lived 
and worshiped and died. This plaintive strain 
describes their experience: “ By the rivers of 
Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when 
we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon 
the willows in the midst thereof. or there they 
that carried us away captive required of us a 
song; and they that wasted us required of us 
mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 
How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange 
land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right 
hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember 
thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my 
mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my 


THE PILLAR OF THE STATE. 179 


chief joy.” If this is not a patriotic song 
where, in all the range of literature, can one be 
found ? 

Count Tolstoi so interprets the precepts of our 
Lord in the Sermon on the Mount as to make 
him condemn the feeling which men call patriot- 
ism. He maintains that Christ’s doctrine of love 
toward all men, without distinction of nation- 
ality, makes it wrong to love one place or one 
people more than another. If this interpreta- 
tion were followed out to its logical conclusions 
we should be compelled to condemn all conjugal, 
filial, and fraternal affection, and find ourselves 
under obligation to love every stranger with the 
same fondness as we feel for our wives and chil- 
dren. And this, I believe, is about what Count 
Tolstoi teaches, but the absurdity of the conclu- 
sion is so manifest that it will not be seriously 
indorsed by any reasonable man. Even Jesus, 
who so loved the world that he laid down his 
life for it, tasting death for every man, loved 
Jerusalem with peculiar tenderness, and dis- 
played his affection when, drawing nigh to the 
city for the last time, he wept over it as he con- 
templated the destruction which he saw swiftly 
approaching. Love of country is not confined 


180 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


to good men ; it-may be found in the hearts of 
all men who have not been wretchedly perverted. 


“‘ Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 
This is my own, my native land! 
Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned, 
As home his footsteps he hath turned 
Fromwandering on a foreign strand?” 
While patriotism is not peculiar to Christianity, 
it is recognized, encouraged, and directed by 
Christianity. The true Christian is an intelligent 
patriot, a valuable citizen, a wise ruler. 

The counsels of the Gospel are not for sub- 
jects only, but for rulers also. No book in the 
world contains such wholesome precepts for 
kings and all that hold authority as the Bible. 
It is, indeed, a melancholy fact that some rulers 
professing Christianity have displayed a degree 
of cruelty and injustice which might well bring 
the blush of shame to the face of pagan princes ; 
but this only proves that some so-called Chris- 
tians are mere nominal Christians, possessing 
little of the knowledge and none of the Spirit of 
Christ. Ignorance, hypocrisy, ambition, and 
selfishness have dominated their minds and 
shaped their course. It is still true that in 
Christian countries have been found the wisest 


THe PinuaR or THE STATE. 181 


and best rulers. The lawgivers and statesmen 
who have done most to reform abuses, to im- 
prove nations, and to elevate governments have 
been inspired with the truth and spirit of the 
Bible. If magistrates, legislators, and governors 
were true Christians and conducted public af- 
fairs on strictly Christian principles the nations 
of the earth would be at peace, and boundless 
prosperity would prevail throughout the whole 
world. 

Every truly Christian ruler recognizes God as 
his Sovereign. He receives his authority and 
power from the supreme Creator, whether he 
has been elected to his high office by the suf- 
frages of his fellow-citizens or has received his 
throne and scepter as an inheritance from his 
ancestors. “There is no power but of God.” 
Jesus said to Pilate, “Thou couldst have no 
power against me at all, except it were given 
thee from above.” Receiving his authority from 
God, the Christian ruler recognizes his obligation 
to exercise it, not in his own selfish interest, nor 
in the interest of a party, but according to the 
will of God and for the good of the people 
over whom he has been temporarily placed. He 
_is a man having authority and at the same time 


182 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES, 


under authority. He is a subject also. He owes 
obedience and loyalty to the King of kings. 
To him he must give account, and from him 
receive his just recompense. This doctrine 
plants the foundations of government on the 
firmest possible basis. 

The Bible admonishes magistrates to rule in 
the fear of God, to be temperate, to be faithful 
to the trust committed to them, to hate covet- 
ousness, to abhor bribes, to defend and protect 
the poor, to judge righteously, to be impartial 
in the administration of office, to rule with dili- 
gence. The obligations of legislators and magis- 
trates are as sacred as those of any others. The 
duties of a husband and father are no more holy 
than those of an officer of government. These 
are the functions with which men often trifle. 
They are made ‘matters of barter and sale. 
These positions are used for the purpose of pro- 
moting the personal and selfish interests of the 
men who hold them and of enriching their rel- 
atives. But for all these things God will bring 
wicked rulers to judgment, and because of the 
various forms of corruption which prevail among 
public men the nations are dishonored and dis- 
graced and filled with mourning. 


Tur PittaAR OF THE STATE. 183 


The Christian religion sustains a most intimate 
relation to national progress and prosperity. We 
hear a great deal in these days about the union of 
Church and State. Certain persons have such a 
dread of an unholy alliance between the Church 
and the government that they have set them- 
selves the task of destroying every vestige of re- 
ligion in the country. They demand the secu- 
larization of every thing connected with the 
State, the abolition of all Sunday laws, the aban- 
donment of all recognition and encouragement 
of religion on the part of the government, and 
the repeal of all statutes affording protection to 
religious organizations and institutions. What 
they seek is, not to prevent the union of Church 
and State, for of this there is no real danger 
in this country, but rather to demolish religion 
altogether. It has been supposed by some that 
religion has nothing to do with the government 
of the United States. But this is an error. 
There is no State Church in this country, no 
sect supported by the government, sharing in 
its legislation and administration, no denom- 
ination distinguished as the Church of the re- 
public. To some minds this fact has seemed 
sufficient evidence that this is one example of a 


184 RELIGION FOR ‘THE TIMES. 


godless nation, utterly destitute of religion. Not 
so. For while we have no State Church we 
have a multitude of free and independent 
Churches. The principles of religion underlie 
the foundations of the government and are inter- 
woven with federal and State legislation and 
control the moral sense of the people. Instead 
of being a godless nation it is one of the most 
religious countries in the world. Religious or- 
ganizations, as such, have nothing to do with 
legislation or administration of government, but 
religion is as needful to the prosperity of the 
State as it is to the welfare of the individual. 
This fact has always been recognized in this 
country, and provision has been made by the gov- 
ernment for the existence of Churches and the 
protection of the people in the enjoyment of 
their religious rights and privileges. 

The laws of our States do not require citizens 
to become members of Churches, to worship 
God, or to attend religious worship. They fur- 
nish no special advantage or preferment to men 
on account of their church relationship. But, 
recognizing the fact that religion is useful to so- 
ciety and the State, the framers of our govern- 
ment have made provision for the protection and 


THe PILAR OF THE STATE. SIRS 


encouragement of Christians and Churches in 
their voluntary and beneficent work? The Sab- 
bath is protected by law in nearly all our States. 
No man can be required to labor or transact 
business on that day. Contracts made on that 
day are not legal. Common labor performed on 
that day is a violation of law. The intent of 
these laws is, not to make men religious by stat- 
ute, but to afford to every man the rest which 
nature requires, the opportunity to carry out his 
religious convictions and eultivate his religious 
nature, and to afford the Churches an opportu- 
nity to disseminate those religious principles 
which are so essential to the welfare of men in 
society. Sunday laws are not bonds uniting 
Church and State, but witnesses to the value of 
religion as an element of national prosperity. A 
good citizen, who is not himself a religions man, 
obeys these laws, not only because he wishes to 
be loyal to the State, but also because he takes 
pleasure in treating with respect that religion 
which contributes so much to the well-being of 
individuals, of families, and of the nation. 

The symbol used in the ceremony by which 
the President of the republic is inaugurated into 
his high office is the Bible. Every year the 


186 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


President issues a proclamation calling on all the 
people to assemble in their places of worship and 
give thanks to God for the mercies of the year. 
The governors of all the States unite their offi- 
cial proclamations to that of the President ap- 
pointing this religious service. This institution 
is the product of the religious spirit of the peo- 
ple and their rulers. It is not merely a legal and 
national holiday, but a religious festival. The 
President and governors officially recognize the 
existence of a supreme Creator and Ruler from 
whom all natioral mercies flow. The day is not 
merely a season of rejoicing over bountiful har- 
vests and commercial prosperity, but it is offi- 
cially set apart as an acknowledgment of the good- 
ness of God and a witness to the same, and 
affords an opportunity to express a nation’s 
gratitude for Heaven’s bounty. If a President 
should come into office who did not believe in 
the existence of God nor recognize his supreme 
authority and man’s obligation to honor him, he 
would nevertheless be compelled, not by civil 
statute, but by public sentiment to appoint this 
festival and call on the people to observe it. 

A few years ago the governor of one of our 
Western States issued a so-called thanksgiving 


fe 
( 


(e2) 


Tue PILLAR OF THE STATE. 1 


proclamation, in which he made no reference to 
God as the author of the blessings of the year, 
and did not even mention the name of the 
Almighty. This omission, which was evidently 
intentional and expressive of the atheistic senti- 
ments of the governor, was met with a storm of 
adverse and indignant criticism. At the next 
gubernatorial election in that State the author 
of this famous proclamation was a candidate for 
re-election and was defeated—a result to which 
his conspicuous contempt for the religious con- 
victions of the people largely contributed. 
Some may call this fanaticism and bigotry. It 
is neither. It is a solemn witness to the relig- 
ious character and principles of the people. 
Religion has nothing to do with legislation, but 
it has much to do with public character in 
America. 

When the foundations of this government 
were laid the wise men who participated in the 
deliberations and directed the proceedings be- 
lieved that the principles of Christianity were 
essential to the well-being and perpetuity of the 
nation. They were indeed careful to rear a 
structure of government untrammeled by eccle- 
siastical entanglements. They provided for the 


188 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


complete separation of Church and State, but 
recognized the importance of the prevalence of 
Christian principles among people and rulers. 
No one can read the record of the discussions of 
their assemblies and fail to be impressed with 
this fact. The State papers, the speeches, and 
other literature of those days breathe the spirit 
and bear the impress of Christianity. The 
leaders of the people, whose memory we cherish, 
were careful to warn the nation of the danger 
of a low state of morals, and the impossibil- 
ity of maintaining a high standard of morality 
without a pure form of religion. 

Some of these men were not Christians them- 
selves, but they saw the value of Christianity as 
the ally of the State. Some of these statesmen 
have been accounted infidels, but scarcely one of 
them was so unwise as to desire the banishment 
of Christianity from this new country. There 
was a time when Benjamin Franklin was 
a skeptic and perhaps an atheist. While in 
London, some years before the Revolution, he 
wrote a book in which he took strong ground 
against religion. But he lived long enough to 
change his mind, and all his infidel sentiments 
were repudiated by him. Whatever may have 


Tur PILLAR OF THE STATE. 189 


been his personal interest in religion, he became 
thoroughly persuaded that, although Church 
and State should: never be united, religion and 
the State shonld never. be separated. It was 
Benjamin Franklin who offered the motion in 
the convention which framed the constitution 
that the daily sessions should be opened with 
prayer, and supported his proposition with a re- 
markable speech. 

Intelligent Europeans who have traveled ex- 
tensively in this country for the purpose of 
studying our institutions have been deeply im- 
pressed with the religious spirit which pervades 
the nation. An eminent French scholar and 
statesman, who made a special study of the gen- 
ins of American institutions many years ago, 
wrote this: “There is no country in the world 
where the Christian religion retains a greater 
influence over the souls of men than in America. 
And there can be no greater proof of its utility 
and of its conformity to human nature than that 
its influence is most powerfully felt over the 
most enlightened and free nation on the face of 
the earth. In the United States religion exer- 
cises but little influence on the laws and upon 
the details of public opinion, but it directs the 


190 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


manners of the community, and by regulating 
domestic life it regulates the State. Religion 
in America takes no part in the government of 
society, but it must, nevertheless, be regarded as 
the foremost of the political institutions of the 
country ; for if it does not impart a taste for free- 
dom, it facilitates the use of free institutions. 
This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens 
or to a party, but it belongs to the whole nation 
and to every rank of society.” Professor James 
Bryce, of England, who visited the United States 
twice, remained in the country many months 
traveling extensively and studying diligently the 
history, the laws, and customs of the people, has 
written two volumes, entitled The Amerecan 
Commonwealth, a work eminently worthy of 
study by all Americans. The author has not 
overlooked the relation which Christianity sus- 
tains to the government. After referring to 
the chaplaincies in both houses of Congress, in 
the army and navy, to Sunday laws, thanksgiv- 
ing proclamations, and the Bible in the schools 
as evidences that the national and State govern- 
ments do give to Christianity a species of recog- 
nition which is wholly inconsistent with the 
view that civil government should be absolutely 


Tuer PILLAR OF THE STATE. 191 


neutral in religious matters, Professor Bryce 
says: “The whole matter may, I think,. be 
summed up by saying that Christianity is in 
fact understood to be, though not the legally 
established religion, yet the national religion. 
So far from thinking their commonwealth god- 
less the Americans conceive that the religious 
character of a government consists in nothing 
but the religious belief of the individual citi- 
zens, and the conformity of their conduct to 
that belief. They deem the general acceptance 
of Christianity to be one of the main sources of 
their national prosperity, and their nation to be 
a special object of divine favor.” 

The sentiments of these eminent foreigners 
are shared by leading American statesmen and 
jurists. William Allen Butler, LL.D., a lawyer 
of acknowledged ability and varied learning, 
having occasion to speak on this subject recently, 
said: ‘‘ While there is an absolute divorce of 
Church and State, and a controlling mandate 
against interference by the State with the free- 
dom of religious opinion and worship, there is 
not, and never has been, any divorce between 
Christianity and the State, or between the State 
government in its administration and the Chris- 


192 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. - 


tian religion as revealed in the Scriptures. On 
the contrary, it was well settled long ago, and 
cannot now be disputed, that Cliristianity is a 
part of the common law of the State.” ‘Two 
extreme views must be carefully guarded against. 
One requires the complete separation of religion 
from every thing pertaining to the government 5 
the other requires the union of Church and State 
in affairs of government. 

Tf the former view should prevail chaplaincies 
in the army and navy and in Congress must be- 
abolished, the Bible must not be used in the in- 
auguration of the President of the United States 
into his office, thanksgiving proclamations must 
not be issued, Sunday laws must be abolished, 
oaths, in which witnesses and those being in- 
ducted into office call on God, must be aban- 
doned. We do not stop now to point out the 
inevitable and melancholy results of such a 
course, nor to show how utterly contrary this 
proposed measure is to the intention of the 
statesmen who framed our government. This 
theory, although strenuously advocated and 
urged by a considerable number, cannot prevail ; 
but in order to prevent it loyal Americans and 
Christian citizens must be vigilant and active. 


Tue PILuaR OF THE STATE. 193 


The gradual encroachments of the atheistic and 
secular spirit, breaking down Sunday laws, ren- 
dering the oath a meaningless ceremony and 
blasphemous mockery, and destroying as far as 
possible the religious couvictions and sentiments 
of the people, give cause fur alarm and eall for 
earnest efforts on the part of Christian people. 
The union of Church and State is not so much 
to be feared, and yet the controlling influence 
in political affairs which the Roman Catholic 
Church wields in certain quarters is not to be 
treated as a light matter. The members of this 
denomination may be divided on some questions, 
but when political issues are to be acted on they 
are not divided. The fact that this large body 
delivers a solid vote on election day gives to ita 
tremendous influence over politicians, legislators, 
and municipal and State officers. This influence 
is always used in favor of measures in the inter- 
est of the Catholic Church. Hence the boast of 
Catholic journals that before long they will com- 
pel the division of the school funds, whereby 
they will get their share for the support of their 
parochial schools. The suecess with which they 
have engineered other favorite measures gives 


reason to fear their success in this. How much 
13 


194 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


farther they hope to go in the direction of in- 
fluencing legislation, shaping public policy, over- 
throwing existing institutions, and manipulating 
the government in their own interests, we may 
not presume -to say. But Protestants must not 
sleep. Christianity is essential to the highest 
prosperity of the republic, but the alliance with 
the State of a Christian denomination, however 
pure, would be a curse, and especially such a 
denomination as the Roman Catholic. 

What we need is not so much legislation in 
favor of Christian Churches as the dissemination 
of Christian principles among the people. One 
way to make this a Christian country would be to 
amend the constitution by inserting a section 
recognizing Christ as the head of the nation and 
his Gospel as the fundamental teaching on which 
all legislation shall be based, and requiring all 
offices to be filled by Christian men, and intro- 
ducing religious ceremonies into all the affairs 
of government. This is the method some 
would advocate. They think outward forms 
constitute a Christian nation. But all these 
measures might be adopted, and the nation be 
essentially a pagan nation. Another way is to 
inculeate Christian sentiments and impress the 


THe PILLAR OF THE STATE. 195 


minds of the people with Christian truth and 
awaken Christian thought and conviction and 
life throughout the land. Genuine revivals of 
religion, in which men have been converted from 
atheism, superstition, and sin, have done more to 
make this a Christian nation than all the legisla- 
tive acts ever passed. This is a Christian nation 
so far as its rulers and people are actuated by 
Christian principles, and no farther. 

Much is said about religion in the public schools. 
The-publie school is one of America’s peculiar 
and noble institutions. But it has been called 
godless, as the nation itself has been called god- 
less. This is a slanderous misrepresentation. 
The publie schools are religious, not by being 
under control of a sect, nor by the adoption of a 
theological creed, nor by adhering to certain re- 
ligious forms, but by the religions spirit and 
life abiding in the minds of teachers and scholars. 
Most public school teachers are Christians. The 
religious influence exerted by the Christian char- 
acter of many thousand godly teachers is far 
greater and more effective than religious forms 
of the most approved style could be. Religious 
forms and ceremonies belong to the sanctuary, 
but religious life belongs every-where. 


196 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. ~ 


Christian ministers and parents should main- 
tain the most intimate relations with the public 
schools. Teachers sometimes feel that their 
work is not appreciated and that they do not 
have the sympathy and aid of Christian minis- 
ters and churches. One of the chief allies of 
the minister is the public school teacher. The © 
two are working together to the same end, al- 
though on different lines. Yet how seldom is a 
prayer offered in the pulpit for the teacher, or a 
sermon preached for the encouragement. and 
help of the school! If Christians would pre- 
serve this distinctive American institution from 
the overthrow with which its enemies threaten 
it and infuse into it the leaven of Christian life, 
which will add immensely to its utility, let them 
bring the pulpit and the teacher’s desk as near 
together as possible; let them instill into public 
school teachers religious ideas and diligently 
seek to lead them to Christ. 

Since Christianity sustains such an intimate 
relation to the prosperity of the State it should 
be respected, not only by professing Christians, 
but by others also. There are a few men in al- 
most every community who will not yield assent 
to this proposition. They regard religion as ~ 


Tur PILLAR OF THE STATE. 197 


nothing more than superstition founded in igno- 
rance and fraud, essentially degrading, injurious 
to the mind, and deserving only contempt from 
intelligent men. But such views are confined 
toa small portion of the citizens of this coun- 
try. Most men who are irreligious themselves 
acknowledge the benefits of religion to society 
and the State, and, while they justify themselves 
in living without religion, they would not inten- 
tionally interfere with its progress among the 
people. They see in Christ, in the Bible, and 
in the Sunday-schools and churches the only 
foundation on which society can rest securely 
and permanently. Some men who profess this 
respect for Christianity do, nevertheless, throw 
all the weight of their influence against its 
operations and its progress. This they do either 
unwittingly or because their greed for gold has 
blinded their minds to the legitimate results of 
their pursuits. 

No man can show decent respect for Chris- 
tianity and prosecute his secular business on 
Sunday. The proprictors of Sunday newspapers 
come under this condemnation. Most of them 
wish to be numbered among the friends of re- 
ligion. They make their boast that they use 


198 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


their papers largely for the promotion of the 
Christian religion. But publishing and selling a_ 
secular newspaper on Sunday secularizes the 
day and tends mightily to make it like other 
days. It interposes a serious hinderance in the 
way of religious work. It crowds out such re- 
flections and exercises as are necessary to make 
the day profitable. It cultivates disregard for 
the Sabbath and all other religious institutions. 
Men who sincerely wish to show respect for re- 
ligion, and are willing to incur the cost of doing 
so, will scrupulously avoid whatever tends to 
hinder religious thought and worship and coun- 
teract the effects of religious teaching on the 
Sabbath. The Sabbath is the chief day on which 
religion is propagated. Business pursuits and 
school work occupy the minds of the people on 
other days. They do not offer favorable oppor- 
tunity for inculeating religious principles. On 
the Sabbath stores and secular schools are closed 
and churches and Sunday-schools are open. 
The minds of men, resting from secular cares 
and studies, are in a favorable attitude to re- 
ceive religious instruction. Only atheists and 
anarchists can desire to open the flood-gates of 
secular cares and thoughts and occupations on 


Tue PILLAR OF THE STATE. 199 


this day, but the proprietors of Sunday news- 
papers are doing this without desiring it. 

Until recently France has been almost with- 
out a Sabbath. True there are churches and re- 
ligious ceremonies in France, but ‘atheism and 
other forms of skepticism had obtained so strong 
a hold in that country that sacred institutions 
were held in contempt by the masses, and, for 
the most part, also by the leaders of the people. 
The shops and stores were kept open on the 
Sabbath day, traffic, manufacturing, farming, 
and all sorts of business moved forward on that 
day at the pleasure of proprietors. But recently 
the French have discovered that this violation 
of an important Christian precept is also a vio- 
lation of a fundamental law of nature, an injury 
to society, a curse to the State. A powerful 
league, under the leadership of some of the lead- 
ing thinkers and statesmen of France, has been 
organized for the purpose of restoring to their 
country the advantages of the Sabbath. 

This is not a religious movement, but one 
purely in the interest of the country and thie 
people. Success has already attended the enter- 
prise. France is brigging back her Sabbath. 
Stores and shops are closed at least a part of the 


200 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


day, and a season of periodical rest is guaranteed 
‘to the toiler. Much objection is still urged 
against making the Christian Sabbath the day 
of rest, lest legislation should be earried beyond 
its legitimate bounds and the liberty of the peo- 
ple interfered with. Many prefer to require one 
day of rest in seven, and allow each one to 
choose which day he will. This is an effort to 
avoid the appearance of enacting laws in favor 
of Christianity. But it is easy to see that, in 
order to make the rest-day available, it must be: 
uniform. All must observe the same day, or 
many can have no day. And if one partic- 
ular day be designated it will be almost im- 
possible to select any other than the Christian 
Sabbath. . 

In Germany a similar reformation is on foot. 
These European countries have had their time 
of ignoring the Christian Sabbath, and have 
discovered the evils resulting from such a course. 
In all these lands there are signs of returning 
to the observance of the Sabbath. Just as the 
wave of anti-Sabbath influence has spent its force 
on the continent of Europe and begun to sub- 
side it sweeps over America as though it were 
some new thing. The more we give way to 


Tuer PILLAR OF THE STATE. 201 


Sabbath desecration the more we weaken the 
State and bring in demoralization. 

Not the Sabbath only, but all Christian insti- 
tutions exert a salutary influence on the State. 
Christian marriage, the Christian home, the 
Christian Church, the Christian Scriptures, Chris- 
tian schools, Christian benevolent associations, 
Christian hymns, Christian literature, and Chris- 
tian principles constitute the salt which preserves 
the State. It is not law nor the police force that 
keeps back the floods of moral corruption from 
overwhelining our cities and deluging the whole 
land. Itis Christianity. Remove from our midst 
all churches, ministers, Christians, and all their 
good influence, and what would remain to save 
the country ? 

_ It must be confessed that Christianity has done 
but little for our country compared with what 
it is capable of doing. It has scarcely colored 
our politics, our business, our legislation, our 
education. It has only touched the fringe of 
social life and hardly affected the life of the na- 
tion. Christianity has not yet thoroughly per- 
meated the Church. Tow far below the Gospel 
standard are the best Churches! How many 
Christians do we know who, in self-sacrifice, in 


202 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


consecrated effort for the redemption of men 
from vice and sin and ignorance and misery, in 
the conduct of their secular affairs, and in their 
private and public life, fill the measure of the 
stature of a man in Christ Jesus ? 

If those who are now called Christians were all 
Christians indeed, intemperance, gambling, licen- 
tiousness, poverty, ignorance, political and social 
corruption, and all that mars the glory of our re- 
publie would vanish before the Church of Christ, 
as the darkness withdraws before the rising sun. 

This religion, in which the founders of the 
republic had such implicit confidence, has been 
the salt which has preserved the nation ever 
since. Its doctrines, its spirit, and its inflnence 
have contributed more than any thing else to 
secure the prosperity and progress of the nation — 
for more than a hundred years. So manifest is 
this fact that Oriental nations, which for centu- 
ries have made no progress, awaking from their 
slumbers and beholding our prosperity, are 
beckoning us to bring to them the secret of our 
advancement. They have opened their doors to 
our missionaries and given free course to the 
Gospel, because they recognize in it a friend of 
the State. They are sending their sons to our 


Tue PILLAR OF THE STATE. 208 


shores to study our institutions, to be educated 
in our Christian schools, and to carry back the 
secret of Western progress. India, China, Japan, 
are seeking light, and confessing openly that 
the rock on which our government rests is the 
best foundation for a State. 

Something remarkable has recently occurred 
in China. The emperor of that vast country 
has issued an edict authorizing Chinamen to be- 
come Christians without running the risk of 
losing the privileges and immunities of citizen- 
ship. Any Chinaman can now profess Christian- 
ity openly and still remain an acceptable and 
loyal Chinese subject. But before this edict was 
issued a thorough examination into the work of 
Christian missionaries in China was made by a 
commission of wise men duly appointed and an- 
thorized by the government. The Tsung-Li 
Yamen, or Board of Foreign Affairs, is composed 
of representative statesmen, and holds a position 
somewhat analogous to tliat of the cabinet of 
the President of the United States. The men 
who compose it are stout and arrogant heathen, 
not disposed to show partiality to a foreign in- 
stitution, and especially to Cliristianity. Having 
made a careful examination of the character and 


204 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


fruits of Christianity, they presented a memorial 
to the emperor containing these statements : 

“The memorialists find that the religion of 
the great West—that is, Europe and America— 
persuades people to follow the paths of virtue. 
The hospitals of the sick and asylums for infants 
are all good works. Of late years in all places 
in the different provinces visited by calamities 
there were many missionaries who contributed 
large sums and helped to alleviate the sufferings 
of the people. Their love to do good and their 
generosity in giving are certainly commendable.” 

Coming from such a source, this is a wonderful 
declaration. This memorial was soon followed 
by a decree of toleration, giving to Christianity 
free course in the Empire of China. This fact 
not only shows that the integrity, generosity, 
~and charity of Christian missionaries have com- 
mended the Gospel which they represent to 
intelligent representatives of the greatest pagan 
State on earth, but also that the fruits of this 
Gospel in China have challenged the approval of 
wise men and statesmen, even the followers of 
Confucius, and compelled the emperor of this 
great empire to recognize it as an important 
and indispensable ally of good government. 


THE CHRISTIAN Homes. 205 


CHAPTER VI. 
THE CHRISTIAN HOME. 


Noruine is more common than for men to 
undervalue what is familiar and attach undue 
importance to that which is extraordinary, arti- 
ficial, and rare. The home is with us always. 
We come in contact with it constantly, and on 
that account we are in danger of placing upon it 
too low an estimate. Indeed, to overestimate it 
is impossible. 

One of the richest gifts which the beneficent 
Creator has bestowed on his intelligent creatures 
is the institution of the home. The family ante- 
dates the Church and the State 5 it is intended 
for all nations and belongs to all time. But this 
divine arrangement for the growth and progress 
of the race has been sadly perverted, corrupted, 
neglected, despised, and even banished from some 
parts of the world altogether. Ignorant of its 
nature and its benefits, many have undertaken to 
substitute for it some other form of human 
society. Dut the Christian home, in which one 


206 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


man and one woman are united together by in- 
dissoluble bonds, where their children are trained 
up to honor them and honor the truth and honor 
God, is the chosen plan of Heaven for the de- 
velopment of humanity and the promotion of 
the divine glory. Whatever in literature or leg- 
islation or social custom tends to corrupt or over- 
throw this institution deserves the reprobation 
of all good men, and whatever tends to purify, 
improve, exalt, and establish it merits the highest 
praise. The Christian home is the corner-stone 
of social progress and order. “ Show me fami- 
lies worthy of the name,” says Father Hya- 
cinthe, “true domestic commonwealths, father 
and mother, king and minister, enthroned  to- 
gether in the midst of the circle of their chil- 
dren, talking to them of ancestors, of honor, of 
duty, and being hearkened to—commanding in 
respect, and still more in love, and being obeyed ; 
show me a father, king in his own house, and so 
much the more free in the world without as he is 
authoritative in the world within—show me 
homes like these, and I will show you republics. 
The genuine, free citizen is the father, respected 
and obeyed at home. It is out of such materials 
as these that lasting social order can be built.” 


THE CurIsTIAN Home. 207 


The safety and progress of a nation depend on 
the homes of the people. The glory of a coun- 
try is not its climate, its soil, its rivers, lakes, and 
harbors, its gold and silver mines, its form of 
government, or even its splendid institutions, but 
its men and women of noble character. Hence 
the foundation of a nation’s glory is the home 
where men and women receive the bent and 
tone of their characters. Jules Simon says: 
“Civic virtues, unless they have their origin 
and consecration in private and domestic virtues, 
are but the virtues of the theater. He who has 
not a loving heart for his child cannot pretend 
to have any true love for humanity.” Obe- 
dience to the commandment, “ ITonor thy father 
and thy mother,” learned and practiced in child- 
hood, becomes the foundation of loyalty to the 
State and to God, and renders obedience to all 
just and righteous laws natural and easy. That 
soul which is not identified with a group of 
kindred souls from his earliest recollection and 
joined to them by tenderest ties of affection is 
in asad case, and knows nothing of the purest 
joys and holiest motives which earthly relations 
can furnish. | 

Home is usually associated with a locality, a 


208 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


plot of ground, a building which, however hum- 
ble, affords shelter and rest to the little group of 
human beings who have chosen it as their abode. 
Children of nomad parents, of itinerant minis- 
ters, and others whom necessity or inclination has 
not allowed a permanent abiding place must 
forever miss one of the elements of a real home. 
“Some spot there is, some cherished spot, 
We love, all other spots above; 
And few so wretched that have not 
Some early cherished spot to love. 
The mountain heights are dear to some, 
To some the valley’s deep recess ; 


To some the desert is a home, 
With thoughts to cheer and joys to bless.” 


Home is a place of love and sympathy. One 
may meet enemies in the world outside, friends 
may prove false, and trusted allies show treachery, 
but, turning his steps homeward, he is sure to find 
there what his heart craves—love and sympathy. 


‘“ Home’s not merely four square walls, “ 
Though with pictures hung and gilded ; 
Home is where affection calls, 
Filled with shrines the heart hath builded.” 


Love is the only true bond of marriage. Souls 
may be drawn together by covetousness, ambi- 
bition, or convenience, and united by mere legal 


THe CurisTIAN Home. 209 


obligations, but this cannot constitute a Christian 
home. The husband or wife who finds greater 
pleasure elsewhere than at home is to be pitied 
or blamed, or both. A home where love unites 
those who dwell together iu one family furnishes 
consolations to which the homeless are strangers. 
Those who go through life alone are often reduced 
to direst straits when overtaken by disappoint- 
ment and affliction. Washington Irving says: 
“TI have noticed that a married man falling 
into misfortune is more apt to retrieve his situa- 
tion in the world than a single one, chiefly be- 
cause his spirits are soothed and relieved by do- 
mestic endearments, and self-respect kept alive 
by finding that, although abroad be darkness and 
humiliation, yet there is still a little world of love 
at home, of which he is monarch. Whereas a 
single man is apt torun to waste and _ self- 
neglect—to fall to ruins, like some deserted 
mansion, for want of inhabitants.” 

What a recent writer said of society in France 
nay also be said of the United States: “ And if 
our morals are going to ruin, if the basis of the 
family is undermined, if domestic society leans 
and totters like a ruined edifice, it is because men 


have forgotten to put love at the foundation of 
14 4 


210 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


the house, the love of two beings who love each 
other in honor, in respect, in holiness.” 

By elevating woman from the position of a 
slave to that of an equal and companion of man, 
by inculeating the holiest domestic virtues, by 
inspiring the hearts of husbands and wives, 
brothers and sisters, parents and children, with 
that love which is the embodiment of all spiritual 
excellence, the Christian religion has brought in- 
finite blessings to earthly homes. It must be 
admitted that even in so-called Christian coun- 
tries there are many wretched homes, but they 
are far superior to any that can be found in other 
lands. 

Religious devotions in the home exert an ele- 
vating and refining influence on the minds of 
the members of the household. The day which 
is begun with family devotions, conducted in the 
right spirit by the father, is blessed from the 
start. The day which is concluded in the 
same way is sanctified by a double benedic- 
tion. The impressions made on children by 
these holy exercises are among the most salu- 
tary the soul is capable of receiving. The bard 
of Scotland has drawn this picture of a hallowed 
scene : bs 


. 


THE CHRISTIAN Home. 911 


‘‘The cheerfu’ supper done, wi’ serious face, 
They, round the ingle, form a circle wide; 
The sire turns o’er, wi’ patriarchal grace, 
The big ha’ Bible, ance his father’s pride: 
His bonnet rev'rently is laid aside, 
His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare ; 
Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, 
He wales a portion with judicious care ; 
And ‘Let us worship God!’ he says with solemn air. 


“Then kneeling down to Leaven’s eternal King, 
The saint, the father, and the husband prays: 
Hope ‘springs exultant on triumphant wing,’ 
That thus they all shall meet in future days: 
There ever bask in uncreated rays, 
No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear, 
Together hymning their Creator’s praise, 
In such society, yet still more dear; 
While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.” 


At certain important crises in the home 
these occasions become intensely sacred and 
incaleulably valuable. On the morning of the 
day when a son or daughter is to leave home 
or to enter the marriage relation, the room in 
which the devotions are conducted seems like 
the council-chamber where God waits to hear 
his servants’ petitions. As the Christian father 
pours forth his supplications in faltering accents 
for the guidance and protection of the one mem- 
ber of the circle about to take an important step, 


212 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


the impressions made and the effects produced 
are more valuable than volumes of lectures on 
duty or millions of gold and silver. 

Much is said in these days about the amend- 
ment of the marriage and divorce laws of the 
different States of the Union. This discussion 
indicates that there is still something wrong 10 
the family life of the people. Many hope to 
remedy this evil by additional legislation. Cer- 
tainly great benefit will flow from the repeal of 
bad laws, the amendment of defective laws, and 
the enactment of new laws for the protection of 
the home; but greater benefits still may be ex- 
pected from a revival of interest. in family life 
and family religion among Christian people and 
the dissemination of Christian teachings con- 
cerning the home. Among multitudes of our 
citizens the home is not regarded with that 
peculiar sacredness. once accorded to it by 
almost universal consent. The home is not 
altogether safe. Many foes rise against it and 
threaten to overthrow it; some of them are 
professed and open foes, but most are secret 
and insidious enemies. While we defend and 
seek: to perpetuate our Christian American in- 
stitutions, such as the public school and the civil 


THe CuristTiAN Homr. 213 


Sabbath, we need to look well to this, which is 
at once an American and a Christian institution. 

Many profess great respect for the home, 
while at the same time they despise Christianity. 
But those who assail Christianity, whether they 
be atheists, agnostics, free-thinkers, or skeptics 
of whatever name, aim their blows at the founda- 
tions of the home. In his admirable book, en- 
titled Meditations on Christianity, M. Guizot 
mentions a conversation he once had with a 
Frenchman of distinguished mental capacity and 
honorable character, concerning the attacks which 
were at that time being leveled against Christian 
ity, in which the noted skeptic said: “It is not 
on my own account that I regret these attacks: 
you know Iam a‘ Voltairean ;’ but I ask for reg- 
ularity and peace in my household; I felicitate 
myself that my wife is a Christian, and I mean 
my daughters to be brought up like Christian 
women. These demolishers know not what they 
are doing; it is not merely upon our churches, 
it is upon our houses, our homes, and their 
inmates that their blows are telling.” The doe- 
trines of Christianity concerning marriage, the 
relation of husbands and wives, parents and 
children, and its terrible denunciations of social 


214 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


impurity render it the safeguard of the family. 
The peculiar virtues of charity, patience, kind- 
ness, and love which it inculeates constitute the 
only means by which members of one family 
can be effectually and permanently united. 

Whatever may be a man’s sentiments con- 
eerning Christianity, when he comes to choose 
a wife he will doubtless show his preference for 
a woman of Christian faith and_ principles. 
Hence many unbelievers and ungodly men have 
Christian wives, and there would be many more 
such cases had not many women rejected offers 
of marriage on the ground that they considered 
it hazardous and wrong to be unequally yoked 
together with unbelievers. This is a potent 
argument in favor of the Christian religion as 
the chief support of the home. It makes. the 
best wives, the best mothers, the best husbands, 
the best fathers, and the best children. 

Family discipline and training are not only 
important to national progress and stability, but 
indispensable to a good life. No substitute for 
them can be found. The public school exerts a 
wholesome influence on the minds and manners 
of those who attend it. The Sunday-school is 
an exceedingly valuable institution for the in- 


THe CurisTIAN Home. 215 


culcation of morality and religion. But those 
whose home training is neglected frequently re- 
fuse to attend either of these institutions, and if 
they should venture under their influence are 
not generally much benefited by them. There 
are exceptions. Now and then one may be 
found who has had no advantages of wholesome 
parental example and influence in childhood, 
who nevertheless has turned out well and be- 
come a noble man or woman. Taken up by 
some benevolent person or institution and kindly 
eared for and instructed, the soul which had been 
an outcast may become an example and an apos- 
tle of truth and righteousness. One of the most 
brilliant ministers in a leading religious denomi- 
nation was, when a child, taken from an orphan’s 
home by a generous Christian woman and edu- 
eated for the ministry. Henry M. Stanley is an 
example and an illustration of the possibility of 
a homeless child becoming a splendid man. A 
boy thus unfortunate at the start may wander 
far from the paths of virtue, even go far as to 
contract evil habits and fall into crime, yet a 
ray of truth penetrating his heart may lead him 
to repentance, and through grace he may become 
a good and useful man, 


216 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


But this is not the rule. Such cases are so 
rare that they are not to be expected. They 
produce astonishment when they occur. Home- 
jess children and children whose parents are 
criminals or destitute of Christian principles, 
and whose homes are degraded by ignorance 
and vice, are almost sure to become criminals, or 
at least worthless members of society. Mr. A. 
A. Brush, the warden of Sing Sing prison, re- 
cently stated, in Prison Sunday, that a large 
proportion of those incarcerated in our prisons - 
are there because they never had proper dis- 
cipline in the family. Being without restraint 
at home while young, they were restless under 
discipline at school. By over-indulgence many 
of them were encouraged to play truant instead 
of attending school, and hence they were able to 
escape all restraint. To the question so fre- 
quently propounded, What is the chief cause 
that sends men to prison? the warden says his 
answer of late years has invariably been, “ Want 
of family discipline.’ His words are worthy 
of being carefully considered by all parents. 
The child, even of tender years, who is in- 
dulged in natural way wardness and allowed to 
say to its father or mother, “I will,” or aE 


Tue CurisTIAN Home. 917 


wont,” is in a fair way to become an inmate of 
our penal institutions. 

In the National Prison Association of the 
United States inquiry was made a few years ago 
as to the chief causes of crime, and every expert 
in criminal studies was said to have replied, 
“Bad homes and heredity.” 

One cannot help feeling the deepest sorrow 
for Lord Byron when he reads the story of the 
home in which he was brought up. His father 
was a profligate officer in the army, whose first 
wife was a divorced woman with whom he eloped 
to Franee. JIe married his second wife only 
because he hoped her fortune would enable him 
to pay his debts, and when he had squandered all 
she had he abandoned her. Byron’s mother wasa 
peevish, fret ful, passionate woman, who frequently 
taunted her son with his physical deformity and 
knew no method of governing and disciplining 
him, except by hurling at his head whatever came 
handiest when she was ina passion. It is not 
strange that this unfortunate youth should be- 
come an unhappy and ungovernable man, sing- 
ing or wailing in the bitterness of his soul: 


“And thus untaught in youth my heart to tame, 
My springs of life were poisoned.” 


218 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


The attempt has often been made to cast re- 
proach on the Christian religion by declaring 
that the children of Christian parents are worse 
than others, that the sons of ministers surpass 
all other young men in wickedness. This slan- 
der has often been refuted. When the son of a 
good man yields to evil influences and walks in 
evil ways his conduct is more conspicuous than 
the vile practices of other young men. Such a 
youth merits severer censure than these who 
having had no home training fall into sinful 
practices. Aaron Burr is an example. Few 
names are reprobated with deeper contempt 
than his, and this not merely because of the 
erimes he committed, but rather because, not- 
withstanding he was the son of the president of 
a Christian college and the grandson of the great 
President Edwards, and had enjoyed the advan- 
tages of the best early Christian training and 
example, he threw off these restraints and forced 
his way downward to a life of selfishness and 
shame. But while there are marked examples 
of the sons of good men becoming notoriously 
wicked, it is not true, as a rule, that they are 
worse than others. Facts point in the opposite 
direction. 


Tur CuristTiAN Home. 219 


The late Professor Phelps says that the rec- 
ords of Christian families were thoroughly ex- 
amined in a certain New England town, of 
several thousand inhabitants, and the result re- 
vealed the fact that the proportion of children 
in such families who became religious as related 
to those who did not was more than five to one. 
He also states that an inquiry into the relations 
of the students in the theological seminary at 
Andover brought to light the fact that out of 
its one hundred and twenty students preparing 
for the Gospel ministry more than one hundred 
were from Christian homes and more than 
twelve were sons of Christian ministers. A 
writer in a recent number of Zhe Canadian 
Presbyterian has discovered certain facts which 
contribute somewhat to the overthrow of the 
skeptical sneer that the sons of ministers never 
amount to any thing. These are his statements, 
as quoted by a New York daily: 

“Charles Tupper is a son of the late Rev. 
Charles Tupper; Sir Richard Cartwright, son 
of the late Rev. R. D. Cartwright; the Hon. 
J. J. C. Abbott, leader of the government in 
the Senate, son of the late Rev. Joseph Abbott ; 
Judge Strong, of the supreme court, son of the 


920 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


late Rev. Dr. Strong; Judge Gwynne, son of 
the late Rev. William Gwynne, D.D.; the 
Hon. William Hume Blake was a son of the 
Rev. Dominick Blake; R. N. Hall, M. P. for 
Sherbrooke, is a son of the Rev. R. V. Hall; 
J. C. Patterson, M. P. for Essex, son of the 
Rev. James Patterson; E. G. Prior, M. P. for 
Victoria, B.C., son of the Rev. Henry Prior; 
the Hon. W. Hl. Richey, late Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor of Nova Scotia, son of the Rev. Matthew 
Richey ; Deputy Minister of Justice Sedgwick, 
son of the Rev. Dr. Sedgwick; Alfred Selwyn, 
director of the geological survey, son of the 
Rey. T. Selwyn; Robert Bell, assistant director 
of geological survey, son of the Rev. Andrew 
Bell; W. H. Smithson, accountant of post-office 
department, son of the Rev. W. Smithson ; 
Judge Rose, son of the Rev. Samuel Rose.” 

We have the testimony of Lord Lyt tton to the 
same effect, in these words: 

“T think that of all sections of mankind the 
clergy are those to whom, not only for their 
own sakes, but for the sake of the community, 
marriage should be most commended. There 
are no homes in England from which men who 
have served and adorned their country have 


. 


THe CuHrRisTIAN Home. 221 


issued forth in such prodigal numbers as those 
of the clergy of our Church! What other class 
ean produce a list so crowded with eminent 
names as we can boast in the sons we have reared 
and sent forth into the world?) How many 
- statesmen, soldiers, sailors, lawyers, physicians, 
authors, men of science, have been the sons of 
village pastors? Naturally—for with us they 
receive careful education—they acquire, of ne- 
cessity, the simple tastes and disciplined habits 
which lead to industry and perseverance; and, 
for the most part, they carry with them through 
life a purer moral code, a more systematic rev- 
erence for things and thoughts religious, asso- 
ciated with their earliest images of affection and 
respect, than can be expected from the sons of 
laymen, whose parents are wholly temporal and 
. worldly.” q 

Similar results would be found by careful in- 
vestigation in any community where Christianity 
prevails. 

It should be remembered that unchristian ex- 
amples and influences are often present in so- 
ealled Christian homes, and this will sometimes 
account for the waywardness of the children 
who grow up in such homes. Some parents 


922 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


who make a profession of religion do not make 
a practice of it. In the church on Sunday they 
appear to be saints, but in their homes on week- 
days they appear to be devils. Parents who be- 
long to the Chureh, and yet make a bedlam of 
their homes; parents who talk much about God, 
but really serve mammon; parents who with 
violent tempers and words try to scold the evil 
spirit out of their sons, have themselves to blame 
when those sons grow up to despise religion and 
become notorious for wickedness. Those par- 
‘ents whose highest ambition it is to have a 
good tie, who spend their money for personal 
gratification, who think more of personal pleas- 
ure than of the souls of their children, who 
spend much of their time, and are more content, 
away from home, leaving their children to the 
nurse, the governess, the street, or whatever 
formative influence they may find, are recreant 
to the highest trust committed to them by their 
Creator. 

Over-indulgence is a grievous fault in many 
so-called Christian homes. With many the day 
of discipline appears to be past. They fondly 
hope that their children will escape the evils 
that are in the world without those parental re- 


Tuer CHRISTIAN Home. 223 


straints which are so disagreeable to young peo- 
ple. Some parents have conceived a notion of 
trusting in God which is false and pernicious. 
They permit their sons to associate with what- 
ever companions they may fancy, to read what- 
ever books they may have a taste for, to spend 
their Sabbaths according to the desires of their 
own hearts, and say they have committed them 
to the Lord and firmly believe he will save them. 
We have known fathers to commit their children 
to God in such a manner as to retain little or no 
interest or share in their training. When a 
mother leaves her home under the impression 
that God has called her to some evangelistic 
work, and allows her sons and daughters to run 
wild during the critical years of their history, it 
is safe to conclude that she has made a mistake. 
The exceptions are rare in which God, who has 
committed children to the eare of his servants, 
calls them to other duties which conflict with 
the work of training their offspring. 

In these days of grasping, greed, and worldly 
ambition, many utterly forget their obligations 
to their homes in their haste to get rich or to 
get office. Plunging into business and politics 
they drag their families away from quiet, peace- 


Q24 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


ful country homes into the heart of wicked cities, 
reckless of the consequences to their children. 
These things are telling on the homes of the 
people and on the character of the nation. No 
amount of money hoarded for children can com- 
pensate for the loss of proper home influences. 
The characters and destinies of our children are 
more important than fortunes and offices and 
names. Fortunes ruin children more frequently 
than they benefit them. Ilow long will Amer- 
ican parents neglect their homes for the sake of 
gold or office ? 

It sometimes happens that a father who would 
govern his children wisely is hindered by the 
interference of a kind but imprudent mother. 
The mother who secretly encourages her chil- 
dren in conduct which their father has forbid- 
den encourages rebellion, disloyalty, and sin, 
and as the fruit of her course she will one day 
see her children rise up and curse her memory. 
We have heard of a mother who not only de- 
ceived her husband with regard to the evil prac- 
tices of their children in order to shield them 
from punishment, but. gave them money to 
spend on. questionable indulgences which their 
father would not allow. The sons grew up to _ 


* 
Tue CuristTiAN Homnk, 225 


be criminals and to bring disgrace on their par- 
ents in many ways. Although these parents 
were Christians their children wandered far 
from the paths of virtue, because no discipline 
could be maintained in the home. Unless there 
be a cordial agreement between the father and 
mother, wholesome discipline is out of the ques- 
tion. Family discipline is looked on by many 
with contempt. In some quarters it is a relic of 
the past. For one cause and another it has been 
abandoned, until children rule their parents, and 
in their ignorance and inexperience they soon 
carry the home to destruction. It is high time 
a note of warning was sounded for the stability 
. and safety of our homes. 

It may be said with truth that many homes 
where. no religious professions are made are 
nevertheless models of domestic happiness, virtue, 
and honor, and that from such homes come 
some of the best citizens. But the fruits of 
Christianity are not limited to those who pub- 
licly acknowledge their allegiance to Christ and 
openly engage in his service. Thousands of 
men and women, who belong to no Church and 
have not entered into the kingdom of God by 
faith, have been greatly benefited by the word 


15 


226 RRLIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


of God and Christian education. They heartily 
indorse the teachings of the Gospel concerning 
the home, and have imbibed those domestic 
and social virtues which elevate and beautify 
human character without publicly confessing 
or knowing that they have borrowed or inherited 
them from a Christian ancestry and Christian 
society. 

The advantages enjoyed by the children of 
godly parents are unspeakable. The prayers, the 
example, the restraints of discipline, the instruc- 
tion, in such a home constitute an inheritance of 
priceless value. Christian parents not only train 
their children properly at home, but also pro- 
vide for their education away from home with . 
great care and often at great sacrifice. There is 
a certain inward heritage which such children 
receive from their parents of greater value than 
the best intellectual education. After all that 
has been said about heredity and good stock 
there is an immense value in good ancestry. 
The descendant of along line of cultivated, re- 
fined, pure, and honest men has an advantage 
over one whose ancestors were all ignorant and 
base people. Neither culture nor character can 
be transmitted from father to son, but some of 


Tue CurisTIAN Homer. 227 


the results of both are transmitted. If every 
one should exercise due care to preserve the line 
of his generation from contamination of vice or 
crinfe what a noble seed would be raised up in a 
few centuries! The promise of Jehovah, to 
show mercy unto thousands of them that love 
him and keep his commandments, would be 
literally and wonderfully fulfilled unto the third 
and fourth generation. 

Archdeacon Farrar has written beautifully and 
well on many great subjects, but never did he 
write sentiments more deserving of immortality 
than those recently published by him concerning 
his mother. In an article concerning formative 
influences, in the Yorum for December, 1890, 
he says: ‘First among the influences which 
have formed my life I must mention the charac- 
ter of a mother who has been dead for nearly 
thirty years, but of whom my reminiscences are 
as vivid and as tender as if she had passed away 
but yesterday. She has had no memorial in the 
world; she passed her life in the deep valley of 
obscurity, poverty, and trial; but she has left to 
her only surviving son the recollections of a 
saint. I may say of her with truth, that she 
was canonized by all who looked on her, and I 


228 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


ean echo with all my heart the words of the 
poet laureate : 


“ Happy he 
With such amother! Faith in womankind ‘ 
Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high 
Comes easy to him.” 


These utterances do honor at once to the heart 
of their author and to the memory of his mother. 
If we should make a list of the great men whose 
lives have been largely formed by Christian 
mothers it would be an illustrious record. Most 
of the men in modern times who have con- 
tributed any thing considerable to the progress 
of the race owed their success to the example 
and teachings of Christian mothers. 

Family duties are considered by many as 
trifles. They look with interest on the deeds of 
warriors, the distinction achieved by statesmen 
and politicians and men of literary genius. They 
thirst for the glory which may be won on the 
forum of debate in legislative halls and in the 
arena of public strife. Tell them that a woman’s 
work is chiefly in her home, and, with a sneer, 
they ask, “Is that all? Must women be con- 
demned to waste their talents on this obscure and 
limited sphere?” These aspiring creatures are 


Tue CuristiAN Home. 299 


to be pitied. “Obscure and narrow,” indeed ! 
The father and mother who in this age of strife 
for publicity and preferment bring up well and 
educate a large family of children deserve well 
of their country and the Church. Though they 
lay by no money and have no sounding name to 
spread abroad, they are more worthy of a pension 
than the warrior who has defended his country 
in time of battle. They should feel content 
with their life-work rather than those who figure 
conspicuously in politics and in the senate. 
Public speakers and writers are accustomed to 
call great orators, great statesmen, and great 
thinkers the civilizers and reformers of the hu- 
man race. These truly have wrought wonders 
and must not be robbed of one grain of the glory 
which is their due. But the true civilizers and 
reformers, the builders of the most substantial 
and enduring social fabrics are the Christian 
fathers and mothers, and the corner-stone of 
these noble structures is the Christian home. 
Many modern institutions and _ influences 
which have grown up in the midst of our ad- 
vanced civilization threaten the home. The 
drinking-saloon, the gambling-house, and other 
places of resort and amusement, where men are 


230 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


attracted from their homes at night, act on the 
home with pernicious effect. The mere tempta- 
tion to go from home at night and spend the 
evening with other society than that of one’s 
own kindred is exceedingly harmful. These 
places offer powerful inducements. It is not 
merely the hope of gain by means of playing, 
and the gratification of a thirst for stimulants, 
that leads young men to frequent these institu- 
tions, but the social feature is at the start the 
chief allurement. There young men assemble, 
and nothing attracts young men like young men. 

Men’s clubs also operate in the same way. 
The tendency of social life among men in cities 
just now is toward the club. This is a recent 
invention. The association of men in large 
numbers has a powerful influence on other men 
whose tastes are congenial with their own. 
Meeting in ample and comfortable and some- 
times richly-furnished quarters for social inter- 
course, and occasionally providing attractive 
entertainments, these associations are becoming 
a prominent feature of the social life of men. 
There may be praiseworthy objects in the minds 
of those who organize and unite with clubs, but, 
for the most part, they tend to weaken the affec- 


Tur CuHrRIsTIAN Homes, 931 


tions of their members for their homes. When 
it is known that the luxuriously appointed apart- 
ments in which men’s clubs hold their meetings 
have card-rooms, bars, and billiard-rooms, the 
perils which beset them and the dangers with 
which they threaten the home are all the more 
manifest. For those who have no home, asso- 
ciations that aim to promote some educational 
and benevolent object, with a high moral stand- 
ard, are certainly beneficial. Nothing here said 
is intended to reflect on any benevolent, educa- 
tional, or philanthropic movement. It is only 
where the chief end of the club is social, and 
where it takes men from their homes, that these 
remarks are applicable. 

Men must necessarily be from home quite 
enough. Merchants, mechanics, laborers, teacli- 
ers, students, physicians, men of all classes and 
professions, are called from home by day and 
often at night to attend to the duties of their 
vocation. Why should any man wish to spend 
more time away from his family than is abso- 
lutely necessary 2 What motive can induce him 
to employ the leisure hours at his command in a 
company of men rather than with his wife and 
children? This motive, whatever it be, is not 


232 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


in harmony with the teaching and spirit of 
Christianity and tends powerfully to destroy the 
Christian home. If the Christian home is to be 
preserved among us in the face of all the ene- 
mies it must encounter, the domestic feelings 
must be cultivated. Even in Christian countries 
there is much neglect of Christian precepts and 
principles. Thousands enter into the sacred re- 
lationship of marriage and found homes with 
very little appreciation of the Christian principles 
underlying this holy institution or the solemn 
obligations they assume. Absenting themselves 
from home needlessly, yielding to the temp- 
tation to spend their leisure hours in other so- 
ciety than that of their own families, they pursue 
the course which will surely end in the total 
destruction or serious injury of their homes. 

The true Christian will love his home and 
abide in it. He will heed the counsel of Long- 
fellow, in these lines: 


“Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest; 
Home-keeping hearts are happiest, 
For those that wander, they know not where, 
Are full of trouble and full of care ; 
To stay at home is best.”’ 


And when husband and wife are both true 
Christians they will bring up their children in 


* 


THe Curistian Home, . ~ 238 


the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The 
members of such a family will find more happi- 
ness in the society of each other than of the best 
social clubs that men can organize. The ques- 
tion concerning the failure of marriage will 
never enter their minds. Happy in mutual con- 
fidence, mutual affection, and communion with 
each other, they will constitute a community 
which is the best type of heaven that earth has 
ever witnessed. 


234 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


CHAPTER VII. 
LIGHT IN DARKNESS. 


Arrutction plays an important part in the 
drama of human life. ‘“ Man is born to trouble.” 
The ills which torment the family of man are 
not limited to any particular age or race. The 
cup of sorrow is pressed to the lips of every 
human being. Many afflictions may be traced 
to ignorance and vice, and may and should be 
overcome. They cannot be charged to the 
Creator, nor properly said to be a part of the lot 
of man designed for him and fastened upon 
him by any power beyond his control. They 
are marks of shame and guilt. 

It has been truly said that man was made to 
be happy and not miserable. Evidences of the 
benevolent purposes of the Creator are every- 
where present. The eye and the light are 
adapted to each other with marvelous wisdom 
and skill; so are the ear and sound, the nerves 
and surrounding objects, the palate and neces- 
sary food, the lungs and the atmosphere, the 


LIGHT IN DARKNESS. 235 


man and his work and his fellow-creatures. 
But this great fact does not tell the whole story. 
A considerable part of the afflictions that have 
invaded the world cannot be attributed to the 
ignorance or folly of man. The highest wisdom 
and virtue are not sufficient to protect us against 
lightning, tornadoes, earthquakes, and ocean 
tempests. The very -delicacy of the bodily or- 
gans, the tenderness of natural affection, and the 
uncertainty of life expose us to pain and grief 
beyond all possibility of control or escape. Un- 
doubtedly the ills of life may be materially miti- 
gated and diminished by wise self-restraint, the 
exercise of intelligent precaution, and the prac- 
tice of such Christian virtues as we shall pres- 
ently mention; but after all the body must still 
be the seat, of much pain, and the soul the lurk- 
ing-place of deep griefs. A careful study of the 
problem of human life will convince any intelli- 
gent person that God intends us to suffer. The 
highest end of human existence is not happiness, 
but character. Wise men will not ask to be 
exempted from suffering, but rather to be pre- 
pared to endure it and derive from it the great- 
est possible advantage to themselves and others. 
In considering the adaptation of Christianity 


236 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


to human needs, the problem of sorrow cannot 
be avoided. One of the most stupendous facts 
in human experience is the element of pain and. 
misery. Yet man longs for nothing so much as 
for happiness, and concerning nothing do those 
who have assumed to teach us differ so widely. 


“Q happiness! our being’s end and aim, 

‘Good, pleasure, ease, content, whate’er thy name; 
That something still which prompts th’ eternal sigh, 
For which we bear to live, or dare to die; 

Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies, 
O’erlooked, sgen double by the fool and wise. 


“Ask of the learned the way! The learned are blind; 
This bids to serve, and that to shun mankind; 

Some place the bliss in action, some in ease ; 

Those call it pleasure, and contentment these ; 

Some, sunk to beasts, find pleasure end in pain; 
Some, swelled to gods, confess e’en virtue vain ; 

Or indolent, to each extreme they fall, 

To trust in every thing, or doubt of all.” 

No subject has occupied the thought of wise 
men more than this. All systems of pagan phi- 
losophy have grown out of the natural longing 
of the human heart after the highest good. The 
advice of Epicurus to all who desire to enjoy 
life was to exercise moderation, self-restraint, 
and even entire abstinence from pleasure in 
certain cases in order to overcome the natural 


tendency to exercise indulgence, out of which 


Ligut 1N DARKNESS. Oey 


much pain and sorrow grow. According to this 
system of philosophy it is necessary to forego 
the highest enjoyment and discard the most im- 
portant interests of society in order to escape 
the greatest suffering and care. The joys of 
domestic life, the pleasures of progress, promo- 
tion, and the possession of the good things of 
earth are indeed desirable, but not worth the 
cost, and he who keeps aloof from them is wiser 
and happier than those that seek them. Zeno 
taught that the most exalted happiness was to 
be found in complete victory over the baser de- 
sires of the flesh and the mind. Thus the wise 
man will find peace in his superior manhood 
and sublime consciousness of power over himself. 

That there was much good in these systems of 
philosophy cannot be denied; but both of them 
made happiness to center in self and required the 
extinction or suppression of the social affections. 
The ideal state according to these schemes was 
really one of degradation, in which the noblest 
and finest elements of manhood were erncified. 
Failing to overcome human grief and pain by 
these methods, there was one more refuge to 
which the unhappy victim of bitter anguish 
might fly with the full sanction of the wisest 


238 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


philosophers in Greece and Rome. He might 
end all his troubles in suicide. This method 
of escape was recommended by Plato, Seneca, . 
Marcus Aurelius ; and some of the most eminent 
ancient philosophers and statesmen actually took 
this method of terminating their calamities and 
evading the infirmities and privations of old age. 
Without pausing to consider other theories of 
overcoming the sorrows of earth, let us note what 
Christianity has done for man in this respect. 
Christianity reduces the amount of suffering 
wherever it prevails, The charge has been 
made by certain writers that Christianity finds 
man happy and contented, and by introducing 
horrible doctrines of God and sin and hell, and 
requiring severe self-denial and self-mortifica- 
tion, has robbed the people of pleasure and 
turned the world into a gloomy dungeon. 
Those who believe that men are happier and 
more contented without the Gospel than with it 
have read history to a very poor purpose. 
Those who think that the rigid requirements of 
Christianity tend to make men more miserable do 
not understand its teachings. They have per- 
haps looked on some perversion of Christianity 
where asceticism and fasting and bodily mortifi- 


Ligut 1n DaRKNEss, 239 


cations and vigils were substituted for the simple 
duties of religion, and have formed their opinions 
from these wretched caricatures. Christianity 
does not, like stoicism and epicureanism, teach 
men to forego the natural relationships and in- 
terests of social life. On the other hand, it per- 
mits and counsels men and women to appreciate ’ 
the joys of earth as the gifts of God. | 

Is there no self-denial required by Christ ? 
Yes; his disciples are taught to deny themselves 
of all ungodliness and worldly lusts, to renounce 
such desires as would contract their spirits, 
paralyze their consciences, and corrupt their 
affections. They are to mortify those passions 
which tend to strife and uncleanness. Such 
sacrifices may be painful for the moment to 
men who have wrong ideas of their own best in- 
terests, but, instead of entailing any loss, they 
bring great gain. For the momentary pang 
which such mortifications cost there results end- 
less bliss of the highest order. 

Christianity lessens the afflictions of men first 
by ministering to their bodily health. By in- 
sisting on cleanliness, industry, and temperance 
in eating and drinking it promotes physical 
health and prevents disease and pain. Leprosy, 


240 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


- epidemics, and loathsome diseases are bred and 
perpetuated by the filth, idleness, and sensu- 
ality of pagan cities and lands. Our own cities 
are bad enough, but they are as much superior 
to those of pagan Asia as the day is brighter 
than the night. The Gospel is a remedy for 
poverty, as it is of disease. Bishop Foster writes 
of the poverty which he witnessed in India and 
other Oriental countries as one of the peculiarly 
dark features of society. We hear much about 
poverty in America, but the bishop says what 
we call poverty here is luxury and affluence 
compared with the condition of countless multi- 
tudes in the East. By its teachings and in- © 
fluence concerning envy, jealousy, selfishness, 
ambition, and strife, by its doctrines of benevo* 
lence, charity, mercy, and love, Christianity 
not only mitigates the ills that afflict humanity, 
but greatly diminishes the amount of pain and 
agony under which it finds the tribes of earth 
groaning. It is the unyielding foe of cruelty 
and of crime, it inspires the hearts of all its true 
disciples with a sincere and deep interest in the 
comfort and happiness of their fellow-men, and 
diffuses a spirit of sympathy and humanity not 
only among Christians themselves, but through- 


LIGHT IN DARKNEss..... ~ 94] 


out the entire community where its doctrines 
are inculecated. 

But the Gospel does not propose to banish 
pain and sorrow altogether. The process by 
which it removes the evils of this world is neces- 
sarily gradual. After its doctrines have been 
proclaimed and its advocates have labored for 
centuries in Europe for the establishment of the 
kingdom of God, diseases, plagues, poverty, cru- 
elty, and crime still abound. This is partly be- 
cause only a small proportion of the people have 
_accepted Christ, and partly because multitudes 
of those who have nominally become his follow- 
ers have not received his Spirit, and partly also 
because it is not the province of the Gospel nor 
the purpose of its Author to remove all afflic- 
tions from men while they remain in this world. 
When one builds a house he does not expect 
that it will prevent the rain and snow and hail 
from falling; but, if he is wise, he so builds that 
his house will not fall when the rain descends 
and the winds blow and beat upon that house, 
but it will shelter and protect those who make it 
their refuge. Christianity does not promise to 
turn aside the tempests of affliction which visit 


the earth, but to furnish an abiding and secure 
16 


242 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


retreat into which believers may run and find 
refuge. When one builds a ship he does not 
imagine that it will banish tempests from the 
sea, but he does hope to construct it so that it 
will carry those who take passage in it safely 
through the raging billows. The Author of 
Christianity does not appear to have imagined 
that his system would abolish all pain and mis- 
ery, but he has assured us that it will bear us 
safely and triumphantly through the pitiless 
tempests of earthly sorrow and bring us to a _ 
peaceful haven. 

The Gospel promises abundant consolation. 
Philosophers have invented various methods of 
fortifying the mind against the assaults of sor- 
row. But there are no consolations equal to 
those which Christianity offers. 

There is consolation in the God of the Bible. 
Atheism would banish the idea of God. There 
are’ men who teach that the doctrine of the ex- 
istence of God is fraught with mischief, because 
it fills the mind with fear and dread and compels 
it to cringe with craven spirit before the invisi- 
ble eye of an imaginary supreme Ruler and 
Judge. This theory, absurd as it must appear 
to many, still has its advocates. Atheists, or 


LicgHT In DARKNEssS. 243 


free-thinkers or liberals, as they prefer to call 
themselves, consider their opinions of so much 
importance that they seek diligently to propa- 
gate them by means of lectures, books, conven- 
tions, and the periodical press. In two or three 
instances recently a noted atheist has ventured 
to deliver discourses at the funerals of certain 
members of their fraternity. The cold and 
cheerless sentiments contained in these orations 
indicate the inadequacy of the consolation they 
bring. Consolation is a blessing of which 
atheism knows absolutely nothing. Refusing to 
believe in God and a futurestate of existence, it 
has no hope, nocomfort, no promise for the suffer- 
ing. Atheism has seldom presumed to sit by 
the mourner’s side or present its cup of nega- 
tions to the lips of the anguish-riven soul. It is 
a rare thing to find an atheist attempting torfill 
the office of comforter. 

But the doctrine of the existence of God is 
very full of comfort. He is called “The God 
of all comfort.” Tlis son is called “ The Consola- 
tion of Israel,” and his Holy Spirit is styled 
“The Comforter.” There is a God who made 
the heavens and the earth and all that in them 
is. Although we may not be able to compre- 


944 RELIGION FOR THE ‘J1MES. 


hend the meaning and uses of pain and suffering, 
yet the fact that these unwelcome guests are 
here, not by chance, but by the permission and 
under the power of One whose infinite wisdom 
and goodness are displayed in the works of his 
hands which we see, is no small consolation. We 
can trust this God even in the darkness. 

The doctrine of the fatherhood of God is also. 
full of comfort. Materialism, pantheism, deism, 
and other forms of skepticism leave suffering 
humanity as comfortless as atheism does. There 
are those who admit that some unknown and 
unknowable power exists back of the universe, 
but they are unwilling to accord to it personality 
or volition or feeling. But our God is a person, 
intelligent, affectionate, tender, sympathetic. 
Heisa father. “Our Father who art in heaven” 
is the first phrase in the address to the Creator 
which Jesus has put in the mouths of his dis- 
ciples. “Like as a father pitieth his children, 
so the Lord pitieth them that fear him ” is the 
declaration of his word. “ What man is there of 
you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him. 
a stone? ... If ye then, being evil, know how 
to give =e gifts unto your children, how much 
more shall your Father which is in heaven give 


Licgnt In DARKNESS, 245 


good things to them that ask him?” “Your 
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of 
such things.” With these words did Christ teach 
his disciples to commit the keeping of their souls 
and bodies and all their interests to God. 

The heathen have gods, but they are not gods 
of consolation. Their power is limited, their 
tempers capricious, their thoughts partial, cruel, 
and selfish. They are destitute of pity, strangers 
to compassion, and their interest in mortals is 
generally neutralized by their jealousy and re- 
venge. Search through the long catalogue of 
the gods of Greece and Rome and India and 
China, and where is one that may be compared 
with our God? As the shepherd goes after the 
sheep that wanders from the fold and finds it 
torn and bleeding and ready to die, and, laying 
it tenderly on his shoulder, returns with rejoie- 
ing home, so God pities every ignorant, way- 
ward, unfortunate, crushed human soul, and 
follows it with fond solicitude and ample aid. 
As the father beholds through his tears his 
prodigal son returning from his life of shame, 
covered with badges of misery and want, and, 
running to meet him, embraces and comforts 
him with paternal compassion and bounty, so 


246 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


God watches with pitying eye’ for opportunities. 
to comfort and bless his suffering and unworthy 
children. 

There is comfort in the providence of God. 
Some teachers who magnify the majesty and 
glory of the Almighty deny that he takes special 
interest in every particular event that happens 
to his creatures. According to their view, this 
world is an immense machine with wheels and 
shafts of immutable law, and after having cre- 
ated this machine and placed an engine behind 
it and set it in motion God withdrew from the 
scene, and if he looks on at all does so with stolid 
indifference and set purpose not to interfere. 
Those who find themselves out of harmony with 
this machine must suffer without pity and with- 
out remedy. This is not the God of Christianity. 
The Christian’s God notes every movement of 
the universe and every event that happens to 
his creatures with special personal interest. 
Nothing escapes him. His ear is open to the 
ery of the least worthy, the most obscure. Nota 
sparrow falls on the “ ground without your 
Father. ... Fear ye not therefore, ye are of 
more value than many sparrows.” According 
to the teaching of Christianity, God leads his 


Ligut IN DARKNESS. 247 


children, whether they walk through scenes of 
deepest gloom or the delightful paths of life 
where odors from Eden’s bowers cheer the 
sense. They may suffer, but nothing can really 
harm them, while trusting in God. He makes 
all things work together for their good. These 
lines from Whittier breathe the spirit of Chris- 
tian faith: 


“T know not what the future hath 
Of marvel or surprise, 

Assured alone that life and death 
His mercy underlies. 


“ And if my heart and flesh are weak 
To bear an untried pain, 

The bruised reed he will not break, 
But strengthen and sustain. 


“‘ And so beside the silent sea, 
I wait the muffled oar; 

No harm from Him can come to me 
On ocean or on shore. 


“T know not where his islands lift 
Their fronded palms in air; 

I only know I cannot drift 
Beyond His leve and care. 


“‘ And theu, O Lord, by whom are seen 
Thy creatures as they be, 

Forgive me if too close I lean 
My human heart on thee.” 


248 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


There is consolation also in the Son of God. 
It was when his disciples were overwhelmed 
with grief and disappointment that Jesus said, 
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in 
God, believe also in ine.” There never entered 
this dark world another fountain of consolation 
so rich and sweet as that which is found in 
the life and words of Jesus Christ. His path- 
way lay along the vale of poverty. He was “a’ 
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” 
He possessed unlimited power, but not for one 
moment did he exert it for selfish ends or the 
gratification of mean ambitions. He moved 
about among the afflicted and broken-hearted, 
pouring on their suffering bodies the healing 
virtue of his command and on their erushed 
spirits the soothing balm of heavenly consola- 
tion. At his word the lame man leaped for joy 
and the tongue of the dumb sang. Before his 
rebuke unclean spirits fled and loathsome dis- 
eases were banished. At his command the par- 
alytic rose, took up his couch and walked, the 
blind man washed in the pool of Siloam and 
came seeing, and the dead came forth from the 
foul sepuleher and greeted his kindred, who 
stood wondering at the mighty power of God. 


Ligut my DaRKNEss. 249 


He was touched with the feeling of human in- 
firmities. So deep were his sympathies that he 
did not shrink back from any abyss of pain and 
woe from which it was needful to rescue the 
sons of men. | “Being found in fashion as a 
man, he humbled himself, and became obedient 
unto death, even the death of the cross.” 

Looking on this picture in the Gospel and re- 
membering what the purest being that ever trod 
the earth endured for them, his followers have 
found ample comfort and support under the 
sorest afflictions. They have rejoiced in the 
fellowship of his sufferings. They have counted 
themselves happy that they were counted wor- 
thy to suffer for his sake. They have con- 
sidered it one of the most exalted privileges to 
bear some share of the pain and loss which be- 
long to the saints, looking unto Jesus. In this 
spirit, Horatius Bonar sang: 


‘Sweet cup of sorrow, 

I would drink thee! 
Cup of unearthly wine, 
As thy lip touches mine, 

I would bethink me: 
‘Christ, my joy and hope, 
Once drained a bitter cup, 
Let me drink thee up.’ ” 


250 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


There is consolation in the grace of God. 
The existence of God, the fatherhood of God, 
the providence of God, the Son of God, and 
the grace of God—what infinite consolation in 
these doctrines! Under a peculiar affliction, 
which appears to have touched both body and 
mind with severe torture, the apostle Paul sought 
relief from God. “A thorn in the flesh” gave 
him pain, and “the messenger of Satan” buf- 
feted him, and he besought the Lord three times 
that it might be removed. To this petition, sent 
up to God so often and so earnestly, this answer 
came: “ My grace is sufficient for thee.’ The 
grace of God is the peculiar help and strength 
which he imparts to his people in time of 
trouble. That grace is free. All are invited to 
come and receive it according to their necessi- 
ties. Paul says: “ Let us therefore come boldly 
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, 
and find grace to help in time of need.” When 
times of sorrow and affliction come upon us we 
need special, inward, spiritual aid. 

One thing that helps the soul very much in 
time of tronble is the grace of God that bring- 
eth salvation from sin. Sin embitters every 
thing in life. It gives affliction of every kind its 


Ligut IN DARKNESS. 251 


peculiar poignancy. It is not so much the physi- 
cal pain or mental grief that weighs the soul 
down in sickness and desertion of friends and 
disappointment, but the consciousness of guilt 
which inspires fear and terror. But if sin is 
pardoned, if the soul is redeemed from sin 
and assured of the favor of God, the burden 
of every affliction is materially lessened. The 
sting of affliction is extracted by the grace 
which saves from sin. This grace strength- 
ened and comforted Paul. The thorn in the 
flesh was not so hard to bear, the buffeting of 
Satan’s messenger was not half so painful, when 
‘Paul could look up and call God Father, and 
feel the sweet assurance that his sins were all 
pardoned. 

The gracious presence of God is another ele- 
ment of strength in time of affliction. This is 
the peculiar comfort of the Christian. The 
atheist does not believe that there is any God to 
help him. The pagan has no assurance that his 
god is with him. So anxious are the heathen to 
be always within call of their gods that they 
have them in the house, in the field, in the tem- 
ple, in the city, in the country. Numerous as 
their gods are, they cannot always have thein at 


952 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES, 


hand, and if they stand in the very presence of 
their gods the fact is not particularly encourag- 
ing or assuring. It is no comfort to an ungodly 
sinner to think of God as being always present. 
But with the Christian the case is different. The 
most comforting thought with him is that God 
will never leave him nor forsake him. ‘“ Lo, I 
am with you alway,” said Jesus to his disciples. 
“ But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, 
O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel : 
Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have 
called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When 
thou passest through the waters, I will be with 
thee; and through the rivers, they shall not over- 
flow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, 
thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame 
kindle upon thee.” This is the comfort where- 
with the Almighty strengthens the heart of his 
people. And the psalmist sings, “Though I walk 
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will 
fear no evil: for thou art with me.” The pres- 
ence of God is more than the presence of any 
other friend. To have a friend worthy of confi- 
dence sit down by the side of the afflicted one, 
even though he utter no word nor furnish any 
more substantial aid, is no small help. But to 


Licut IN DARKNESS. 253 


be assured of the presence of God as a Friend 
and Father is infinitely more. 

Christian consolation arises in part, also, from 
the benefits to be derived from afiliction. It is 
difficult to see how pain or loss can benefit its 
victim. Indeed, it cannot if our chief interests 
are of this world. Only those who seek spirit- 
ual good as the chief end of man in this life 
can hope to derive any benefit from sorrowful 
- and painful experiences. It is while we look not 
at the things which are seen, but at the things 
which are not seen that suffering enriches us. 
“ Beloved, think it not strange concerning the 
fiery trial which is to try you, as though some 
strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, 
inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s suffer- 
ings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye 
may be glad also with exceeding joy.” “ That 
the trial of your faith, being much more pre- 
cious than of gold that perisheth, though it be 
tried with fire, might be found unto praise and 
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus 
Christ.” “ For I reckon that the sufferings of 
the present time are not worthy to be compared 
with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” 
“ For our light affliction, which is but for a mo- 


254 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


ment, worketh for us a far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory.” According to the 
_ Gospel this life is only the beginning of our ex- 
istence, but it sustains a most important and inti- 
mate relation to the life to come. Our thoughts, 
our acts, our principles, and experiences here 
will in some way tell on the future, as the prac- 
tices of youth tell on future manhood. Even 
our afflictions are related to eternity. In making 
up the awards of heaven God will have regard 
not only to what his people have done, but also 
to what they have endured. The Christian who > 
ean think of his earthly sufferings as working 
out for him additional bliss in heaven will not 
despise them. 

Nor is this the only benefit of afflictions. 
They add to the spiritual treasures of the Chris- 
tian in this life. ‘“ We glory in tribulations also, 
knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; and 
patience, experience; and experience, hope: and 
hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of 
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
Ghost which is given unto us.” Many good men 
have been made better, wiser, stronger by the 
things they have suffered. The discipline of suf- 
fering under the great Teacher develops many of 


LicguT IN DARKNESS. 255 


the noblest qualities. It is not possible to develop 
sympathy, humility, meekness, patience, and 
benevolence so fully without as with suffering. 
In the valleys certain flowers of exquisite beauty 
grow which cannot be produced on higher alti- 
tudes. In the valleys of sorrow elements of 
goodness have flourished which the world could 
never have known if these souls had not known 
trouble. 

These consolations are real. It is a fact that 
Christians find inward help in trouble, and light 
in darkness which others never know. Go to 
heathen lands and witness the comfortless an- 
guish which wrings the hearts of parents when 
robbed of their children by death. The sad 
wailing customs of the heathen on funeral ocea- 
sions are expressive of the utter desolation of 
souls who know not the true God. The forti- 
tude and heroic firmness with which genuine 
Christians endure sorrow has been the astonish- 
ment of their enemies. Some years ago a skep- 
tic, who sought to detract from this particular 
glory of Christianity, said: “ All men have their 
own consolations. The Christian takes comfort 
in his belief in God and heaven, the heathen in 
his ideas of God and truth, the philosopher in 


256 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


his views of man and his destiny.” This is a com- 
mon opinion, but the force of it is completely 
broken when we consider how much more 
abundant and satisfactory is the comfort which 
the Christian derives from his faith than that 
which comes from any other source. 

Take two examples. Cicero was one of the 
wisest of ancient philosophers. | Whatever 
strength can be found in the best type of pagan 
religion and the best system of ancient philosephy 
he possessed. His discourses on morals, on old 
age, on happiness and death are among the most 
elevated that can be found in non-Christian lit- 
erature. But when Cicero confronted calamity 
his heart failed. When banished from Rome 
his patience, courage, and hope gave way. His 
letters written while in exile betray weakness, 
unmanliness, pusillanimity, utterly unworthy of a 
great teacher and example. So long as the sun 
of prosperity smiled on him his heart was strong, 
but when darkness enveloped him his soul be- 
trayed cowardice. Over against Cicero I place 
St. Paul. We see him in prison at Rome and 
at Philippi, suffering indescribable wrongs and 
afflictions, but in it all there is no craven or weak 
spirit. Read his letters written from prison to 


Licgur in Darkness. 257 


the Ephesians, the Colossians, the Philippians 
and to Philemon, and you shall find no trace of 
weakness, fear, or despair. An elevated spirit, 
a brave soul, a grand manhood may be seen in 
every line of those epistles. Who, then, had the 
best rock for a foundation 2 

Not Paul only; but tens of thousands of Chris- 
tians have suffered bravely, cheerfully, triumph- 
antly, singing anthems of praise to God in the 
midst of the fires. If Christianity had done 
nothing for the world besides this it would de- 
serve the respect of all intelligent men. It 
would be the duty of all who understand its 
value to do their utmost to introduce it every- 
where as the sovereign remedy for human 


sorrow. 
17 


258 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


CHAPTER VIII. 
THE FRIEND OF THE POOR. 


SeveRaL exceedingly interesting and valu- 
able books recently written have forced the con- 
sideration of the problem of poverty upon think- 
ing people in the United States and England. 
How the Other Half Lives, by Mr. Riis, and 
In Darkest England, by General Booth, show 
how vast are the multitudes in the great cities 
of these two highly favored countries that are 
unable to support themselves, and how wretched 
‘s the condition in which many of them live. 
These disagreeable revelations show how far 
the highest form of civilization yet attained is 
below the Christian ideal. It 1s no reproach 
to Christianity that poverty still exists even 
where the Church of Christ exerts its greatest 
‘nfluence. But this fact is a reproach to this 
generation because better use has not been made 
of the advantages and the light with which 
Christianity has surrounded us. 

This is not a new problem. It is as old as 


THE FRIEND or THE Poor. 259 


civilization. It is not true that poverty abounds 
more in England and America than other coun- 
tries. The appalling condition of the millions of 
England who are not supplied with bread enough 
to eat is nothing to ¢ompare with the squalor, 
the wretchedness, the want, of vastly larger pro- 
portions of the populations of India and China. 
There is this difference: in Christendom this 
unhappy state of things awakens sympathy, pro- 
vokes comment, challenges inquiry, receives 
attention, and ealls forth intelligent, influential, 
and brave men who expose the misery, advocate 
the cause, and determine to remedy the wrongs 
of the poor, while in heathendom nothing is 
said, nothing thought, of the matter. 

Systematic efforts are being made to poison 
the minds of the poor and the working classes 
with infidel sentiments, and to persuade them 
that Christianity is their foe, and that the 
Church sympathizes with the rich in the contest 
now being waged between capital and labor. 
That some ministers and some Churches have 
given occasion for such criticisms is perhaps 
true, but by these Churches and ministers the 
Christian religion is sadly misrepresented. When 
the final adjustment of these jarring elements in 


a 


260 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


society shall take place it will be found that the 
principles of Christianity have presented the 
solid foundation on which eapitalists and labor-, 
ers, rich and poor, may stand together, equally 
respected, mutually helpful, and all rejoicing in 
the entire confidence of each other. 

Many schemes have been proposed for the ab- 
olition of poverty. Anti-poverty societies have 
been organized, and are now making strenuous 
efforts to create public sentiment in favor of 
their movement and to secure such legislation 
concerning property as will make poverty im- 
possible. Teachers of political economy have 
delivered lectures, published books, and filled 
public journals with arguments on some favorite 
theory about the rights of poverty and the 
duties of the government with relation to the 
poor. Political parties have introduced doc- 
trines into their platforms which, if adopted and 
put in practice, they have declared would re- 
move the yoke from the neck of the poor man. 
Of all books written on social questions by an- 
cient and modern teachers none can be compared 
with the Bible as a means of helping the poor. 
Of all the theories invented for this purpose 
there is none equal to Christianity. Nowhere 


Tue Frienp oF THE Poor. 261 


else will be found such noble sentiments, whole- 
some precepts, and sound doctrines concerning 
poverty as the bible contains. One who has not 
studied the Bible with reference to this topic 
would be surprised to find how much space it 
devotes to the poor, and how applicable to our 
times are the teachings it contains. The intelli- 
gent student of social questions who reads eare- 
fully the literature on these subjects will be con- 
strained to admit that though many scholars 
have written well concerning this matter the 
writers of the Christian Scriptures have sur- 
passed them all. 

The Bible represents God as the friend of the 
poor. He takes their part against those who de- 
spise, rob, oppress, and wrong them. IIe sends 
judgments on the cruel who have no pity for 
the sorrows of the poor and take advantage of 
them in civil judgments. “Woe unto them 
that decree unrighteous decrees, . . . to turn aside 
the needy from judgment, and to take away 
the right from the poor of my people, that 
widows may be their prey, and that they may 
rob the fatherless.” Even his own people are 
not spared when they so far forget his law as to 
wrong the poor, but are visited with condign 


262 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


punishment. In the severe calamities which 
Jehovah sent on Israel he declared that he 
sought to avenge the needy. He entered into 
judgment with them, because they ate up the 
vineyards and the spoil of the poor was in their 
houses. ‘* What mean ye that ye beat my peo- 
ple to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor ? 
saith the Lord God of hosts.” 

In the estimation of the Alinighty there is no 
difference between the poor and the rich. He 
is not, like the rulers of this world, a respecter 
of persons. The offerings, the services, and the 
souls of the needy are quite as acceptable in his 
sight as those of the rich. One of the most 
beautiful pictures in the New Testament is that 
in which Christ is represented as sitting over 
against the treasury of the Lord and beholding 
the people as they laid their money on the altar: 
“ And many that were rich cast in much. And 
there came a certain poor widow, and she threw 
intwo mites, which make a farthing.” How many 
great teachers or leaders of men would have ex- 
hausted their vocabulary in uttering the praises 
of the generous wealthy who threw into the 
treasury their princely gifts and allowed the 
pittance of the poor woman to pass un mentioned! 


‘Tue FRIEND OF THE Poor. 263 


This is the fashion with the world and worldly 
Churches, and the reason of it is easy to find. 
But the spirit of Christ is different. “He called 
unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Ver- 
ily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath 
cast more in, than all they which have cast into 
the treasury: for all they did cast in of their 
abundance; but she of her want did east in all 
that she had, even all her living.” And by thus 
noting and commenting on the offering of the 
poor widow Jesus exalted it to great honor and 
made it the means of doing more good in the 
world than the largest gift of the wealthiest mill- 
lonaire has ever been able to accomplish. Others 
may overlook the services of the poor because 
they are meager, but God remembers them and 
sanctifics them. This great principle is laid 
down by the apostle: “If there be first a will- 
ing mind, it is accepted according to that a man 
hath, and not according to that he hath not.” 
This divine rule is not only an encouragement 
to the poor.to do what good they can, but it re- 
veals the impartiality of the divine mind. 
Christianity discloses the fact that usefulness 
does not depend on wealth. There be many 
who imagine that however acceptable to God 


264 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


the offerings of the poor may be they have not 
much power in them to bless mankind. But 
this is a mistake. We are apt to look on the 
stores of wealth which selfish men have hoarded 
and think if we had their fortunes we would be 
able to set in motion a tide of good which would 
flow on forever, but we are slow to learn the les- 
son of the Gospel, that this world is to be blest, 
not so much by material, as by spiritual riches. 
More good is done by character than by money. 
One of the marvelous utterances of the apostle 
is this: “For ye know the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for 
your sakes he became poor, that ye through his 
poverty might be rich.” There is a depth of 
wisdom in these words which we may not hope 
fully to sound. But we must not miss the 
thought that it is through the poverty of Christ 
that we are to become rich. How much his 
poverty meant, and how much it did for man, we 
may never fully know, but all the wealth of all 
the continents can never contribute such comfort 
and blessing to humanity as the poverty of 
Christ has wrought. He honored the poor by 
becoming a poor man; sharing the penury and 
tuil of the poor, he showed the high regard in 


Tue FRIEND OF THE Poor. 265 


which the Father holds the righteous poor, 
and out of his poverty he caused streams of 
wealth to flow forth to all men. Many of his 
disciples have followed his example ; voluntarily 
renouncing the advantages of wealth for the 
sake of principle, they have made the world rich 
by a life of poverty. There is power in money. 
Those whom God has favored with large stores 
of wealth possess a potent means of benefiting 
the race, and will be required to render a strict 
account of the use they make of this peculiar 
treasure, but the poor may be quite as useful as 
the rich. 

The Bible requires men to deal with each 
other without partiality. No man can be an ac- 
ceptable disciple of Christ and make distinctions 
between the rich and poor in his dealings or in 
his thoughts. As God is impartial, so are his 
people. The worldly custom of offering the 
choice seats in the synagogue to the wealthy and 
cultivating them by attentions which are not 
shown to others is utterly incompatible with the 
Spirit of Christ. On this point the word of God 
speaks plainly: “My brethren, have not the 
faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of 
glory, with respect of persons. For if there 


266 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


come unto your assembly a man with a gold 
ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also 
a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect 
to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say 
unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and 
say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here 
under my footstool: are ye not then par- 
tial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil 
thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath 
not God chosen the poor of this world rich in 
faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath 
promised to them that love him? But ye have 
despised the poor.” 

To neglect the poor is to neglect Christ, is in- 
consistent with the love of God, and an unmis- 
takable sign of unbelief. There is no clcarer 
evidence of unfitness for the kingdom of God 
and disloyalty to the King of glory. “ Inas- 
much as ye did it not to one of the least 
of these, ye did it not to me,” is the dread- 
ful sentence which the Lord will pronounce 
upon selfish professors of his religion in the 
last day. It matters not what professions of 
faith in Christ and devotion to his cause a man 
may make, nor how large the sums he gives to 
the cause of religion and education and missions, 


THe FRIEND OF THE Poor. 267 


if in his business pursuits he oppresses the poor 
or turns a deaf ear. to the cry of the needy, he 
is no disciple of Jesus, but a manifest unbeliever. 

According to the view of the Author of Chris- 
tianity himself, one of the infallible signs of the 
kingdom of God and the work of the Messiah is, 
that “the poor have the Gospel preached unto 
them.” Any arrangement of church buildings or 
conduct of religious services or prosecution of 
church work which does not include the poor or 
which discriminates againsttheneedyis essentially 
unchristian. To suppose that the interests of the 
kingdum of God require one style of church and 
worship for the rich and another for the poor 
is to make Christ contradict himself. Until the 
problem of adapting one house and one service 
to rich and poor alike has been solved the 
Church has not quite found the ground on 
which Christ stands. O, ye ministers who court 
the rich and neglect the poor, who encourage the 
easte principle in building and equipping 
churches, whose frequent and fulsome speeches 
concerning the wealthy are the expressions of a 
blind love of money, you are giving oceasion to 
the enemies of the Gospel to blaspheme, and 
bringing down the curse of God on the churches 


268 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


where you profess to preach his glorious Gos- 
pel! This Gospel has achieved its most splendid ~ 
triumphs among the poor, and whoever is too 
proud to preach it to the poor is not in sympa- 
thy with it and knows not its divine Author. 
The principles of Christianity are eminently 
adapted to the elevation and improvement of 
the poor. Atheism tends to crush the poor. 
Infidelity delights to boast of its practical be- 
nevolence, but, with rare exceptions, it is an 
empty boast. No enemy of the Bible can be a 
valuable friend of the poor. Men who traffic 
in strong drink usually pretend to be the special 
friends of the poor man, and denounce the 
Churches because of their neglect of the poor. 
The provision they make for men who have no 
‘homes, to enter their shops, sit down by a warm 
fire, meet their neighbors, and enjoy an hour of 
good cheer and social converse, has the appear- 
ance of comfort, and attracts multitudes of poor 
men. But it is really no refuge. It is a snare. 
It is the place where the poor man is robbed of 
his money, his health, his reputation, his charac- 
ter, his happiness, and often of his life. It isa 
notable fact that most of the saloon-keepers in 
America are infidels, and not a few of them 


THe FRIEND OF THE Poor. 269 


atheists. Those of them who are professing 
Christians are Roman Catholics, whose religion 
is one of ceremonies, and who are utterly desti- 
tute of the spirit of Christ. They are thor- 
oughly godless and conscienceless, and no other 
institution in America produces so much poverty 
as the saloon. ~ 

The psalmist has described the spirit and work 
of this class of citizens, so far as their relation 
to the poor is concerned, in language that would 
burn into any conscience not completely har- 
dened by sin. “ Hesitteth in the lurking-places 
of the villages: in the secret places doth he 
murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set 
against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as 
a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch 
the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he 
draweth him into his net.” Satan never in- 
vented a net with greater skill than that which 
the saloon-keeper spreads in the cities and vil- 
‘lages. It is not to be denied that the rich some-’ 
times fall into this snare and there lose their 
treasures. Many a splendid fortune has been 
squandered in the place where strong drink is 
sold. but the poor are the principal victims of 
this evil. By strong drink many have become 


270 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


poor, and by it they sink still deeper in the mire 
of poverty. Most of the poverty in America is 
caused by the saloon. 

The Bible is the friend of the poor and the 
enemy of atheism, infidelity, and wickedness. 
The late Bishop Thomson, in his Jloral and Le- 
ligious Essays, gives an account of an influen- 
tial, intelligent, and strong-minded infidel in 
Ohio, who gathered about him a community of 
unbelievers whose religious views corresponded 
with and were largely molded by his own. Ile 
took pride in his benevolence and kindness to 
the poor. Soon the drafts on his liberality be- 
came so numerous as to awaken the inquiry, 
“ How does it happen that this community is 
becoming more and more thriftless, while pros- 
perity abounds among the people who live 
near?” Prosecuting his investigation thor- 
oughly, he discovered that in homes where the 
Bible was found and well used there was no 
want, but where the Bible was absent he found 
present or approaching poverty. Soon after an 
itinerant preacher came to hold services in a 
school-house, and when “lewd fellows of the 
baser sort” sought to break up the meeting, and 
drive away the minister, this champion of infi- 


THE FRIEND OF THE Poor. val! 


delity defended him, and said to his infidel neigh- 
bors: “I have been abroad among you, and I 
find that you who revere the Bible live in pros- 
perity ; you who despise it are approaching pau- 
perism, if not actually in distress. I am alarmed 
at what I have done; I have made you infidels, 
but in doing so have I not ruined you? . Many 
of you are young men of good minds. I have 
a family of daughters; but I would rather fol- 
low them all to the grave than to see them united 
in marriage to you. Henceforth I will be the 
friend of the Bible; it is the instrument of 
good.” 

Not every house where the Bible is read and 
obeyed is free from poverty, and not every 
atheist is a pauper; but the tendency of depart- 
ure from the precepts of the Bible is to produce 
poverty, and the tendency of obedience to the 
requirements of Christianity is to produce thrift 
and plenty. The Bible inculeates industry, 
economy, temperance, chastity, honesty, and all 
those virtues which insure temporal prosperity, 
and denounces those courses which naturally 
tend to reduce men to want. Almost any one 
may take observations enough in his own neigh- 
borhood to convince him that the vices which 


ya ie RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


the Bible condemns are fruitful of poverty. 
Recently an eminent physician in the West re- 
turned to the college from which he graduated 
twenty years before, and made an address to thie 
students. Of the young men who were in his 
class several were moderate drinkers. Although 
as brilliant and promising as any other students 
in the college, not one of them had succeeded in 
life. Of ten men connected with a daily news- 
paper in that city at the time he was in college, 
nine were accustomed to use strong drink and 
one was a total abstainer. Out of the nine, three 
had died of drunkenness and six were filling in- 
ferior positions in newspaper offices. Bad 
habits had not only prevented them from rising, 
but had forced them down lower and lower to less 
and less remunerative positions, and all were 
surely marching down to poverty. The one 
young man who regarded the precept of the 
Bible, to look not on the wine “ when it givetly his 
color in the cup,” rose steadily until he became 
editor-in-chief of a leading journal on the At- 
lantic coast. In almost every community simi- 
lar cases may be found. “The way of the 
transgressor is hard.” Poverty produced by 
circumstances over which its victim has no con- 


THE FRIEND OF THE Poor. ons 


trol is no disgrace and need be no serious hinder- 
ance in the way of his happiness and usefulness, 
but poverty which men bring on themselves by 
their vices is a mark of shame and a burden 
intolerable. 

Other vices besides intemperance produce 
poverty. -A large share of the poverty which 
we witness is the result of vice, and on these 
vices the Bible makes uncompromising war. We 
are told by some, who have devoted much study 
to this question, that the two chief causes of pov- 
erty are heredity and environment. Children 
born in poverty frequently inherit feeble consti- 
tutions and mental faculties which utterly dis- 
qualify them for success in the battle of life. 
This is true. But in how many cases are these 
unfortunate hereditary conditions due to vice! 
It is not always the vice of the man himself that 
dooms him to a life of destitution, but often the 
vices of his ancestors produce this bitter harvest 
in his body and mind. The third and fourth 
generation of them that hate God are not unfre- 
quently visited with a curse. The work of re- 
deeming the world from poverty is not the work 
of a day or a year, but of centuries. The seeds 


of temperance and virtue which are sown to-day 
18 


274 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


will yield their fruits in the generations to come. 
It is not by almsgiving and refuges for the poor 
and labor legislation alone, but chiefly by the 
dissemination of righteous principles that the 
condition of the poor is to be reformed, and 
these principles are found in the Bible. 

These principles sometimes accomplish their 
ends with marvelous swiftness. We have known 
men who had been reduced to poverty and 
wretchedness by vice to become Christians sud- 
denly, and, exchanging their habits of indolence 
and vice for those of industry and virtue, begin 
at once to rise and accumulate means for the 
comfortable support of their families in a short 
time. But it is not always so. There are cases 
where, on account of lack of opportunity or abil- 
ity, those who follow Christ must continue to 
walk in the vale of poverty. But with the 
wealth of character and happiness which Chris- 
tianity imparts poverty ceases to pinch as it does 
when the soul is stained with guilt and over- 
whelmed with shame. 

Christianity improves the condition of the 
poor by making war on those outward arrange- 
ments of society which produce poverty. In 
these days of sharp conflict between capital and 


Tut Friend oF THE Poor. 275 


labor, the Churches and ministers are severely 
criticised because they do not openly espouse 
the cause of labor and become the champions of 
the working classes. Ministers and Churches 
must advocate principles, and not parties; they 
must denounce wrongs, and not classes. Chris- 
tianity knows no classes, no parties. It did not 
take the side of the slaves as a class against 
their masters and against the governments which 
legalized slavery in the time of Christ and his 
apostles. To have done so would have been to 
engage in the very evil practices it proposed to 
overthrow. It left the slave to serve its master, 
but announced such principles of justice and 
brotherhood as did effectually put an end to 
slavery in time. This is its position now. It 
will not lend itself to a party, but denounces 
wrongs every-where. 

The social conditions which produce poverty 
and crush the needy are wrong. The power of 
wealth when used to grind the poor fights 
against God. The condition of tenement-houses 
in large cities which weigh heavily on the poor, 
the arrangements of labor, wealthy corporations, 
and cruel employers that lay heavy burdens on 
the poor and remunerate them scantily are 


976 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


wrong. Being contrary to the princi ples of 
Christianity it will not cease to wage war against 
them until, like slavery, they shall be abolished. 
With regard to property the principle maintai ned 
by Christianity is that no man is the absolute 
owner and disposer of that which is held in his 
name. God is the only proprietor. All things 
are his. Men are his stewards. They administer 
the possessions which for a time have been com- 
mitted to their hands. Not only one tenth be- 
longs to God, but ten tenths. That which a 
man gives in charity is the Lord’s, and that which 
he keeps and uses for himself and the support of 
his family is the Lord’s also. For every penny 
he must account. Happy is the man who uses 
his Lord’s money according to the Lord’s will, 
but woe to him who forgets his true relation to 
the property he holds and uses it for selfish pur- 
poses and makes it the instrument of oppression 
and tyranny. It were better for that man never 
to have been born. 

This is the doctrine which will effectually re- 
form all abuses of the power of money. When 
this doctrine shall be believed and practiced the 
evils growing out of wealth will be abolished, 
and the evils of poverty will cease. Acting on 


THE FRIEND OF THE Poor. OFT 


‘this principle, Christian men are now contribut- 
ing much to ameliorate the condition of the 
poor. It was this that led Mr. Peabody to de- 
vote many millions to this purpose in London. 
The munificent gift of Mr. Peabody is not being 
doled out in alms—a measure of doubtful value 
unless discreetly managed—but it is being used 
to improve the dwellings and the environment 
of the poor and to elevate them by opening the 
way for them to rise. Christian organizations 
are being formed in our great cities to help the 
poor by giving them something to do, presery- 
ing their self-respect, and making nobler men 
and women of them. Where do all these efforts 
originate? Ministers of the Gospel are the men 
who find out the condition of the poor, lift up 
the voice against the oppressions under which . 
they suffer, plead for them in the pulpit and 
through the press, and set on foot the movements 
which are now operating effectually for their 
relief. 

By placing a high value on man Christianity 
presents the highest motive for aiding the poor. 
Paganism makes little account of the individual 
human being. Pagan religion and pagan phi- 
losophy never discovered or taught with any 


278 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


degree of certainty the immortality of the soul. 
Hence the multitudes of slaves and poor people 
who brought little strength to the State were 
valued at a very low price. To starve the poor, 
to murder the slave, or even to strangle one’s 
own offspring in infancy was not considered a 
erime. But Christianity changed all this. It 
taught that man was made in the image of his 
Creator, that each individual was immortal, des- 
tined to an endless existence of happiness or 
misery, and that God so loved man, even in his 
sinful condition, that he gave his own Son to die 
for his redemption. These doctrines stamped 
each soul with an infinite value and rendered 
human life sacred. Whether a man or a little 
child brings any strength to the State or not, he 
is more valuable than all the material interests 
of the State. Even though he should be a 
charge to the State or the community all his 
days, still he is a child of God, the special care 
of the Almighty, destined to live forever. Pov- 
erty may pinch him and affliction prey upon 
him, still his priceless worth appeals to the 
higher nature of every one. 

Ethical societies have been organized recently 
for the purpose of teaching morals and promot- 


Tue Frienp or THE Poor. 279 


ing the social interests of man apart from relig- 
ion. These organizations propose to find out 
methods whereby the degraded can be elevated, 
the poor relieved and improved, and the race 
redeemed from wretchedness without God, with- 
out prayer, and without religion. But whatever 
these societies may propose, they must fail be- 
cause of one essential weakness. Denying the 
doctrines of God and of immortality, they have 
no sufficient motive to sustain their efforts for a 
long period. The discouragements presented in 
the condition and life of the poor are so great, 
the want of personal interest in their own eleva- 
tion is so painfully manifest, that all efforts to 
improve them must fail unless they are sup- 
ported by the highest motives. Only Christianity 
is sufficient for this task. When the doctrines 
of God, of immortality, and the universal broth- 
erhood of the race shall be received by men 
and become deep and settled convictions, the 
race will rise out of its bondage and rejoice in 
the freedom which comes from the truth, 
Christians are commanded to help the poor. 
The final and splendid fruits of Christianity are 
not yet. In the meantime much can be done 
for the poor, whom we always have with us. 


280 RELIGION FoR THE TIMES. 


Although poverty cannot be cured by almsgiv- 
ing, yet almsgiving is useful, and under the 
Christian system it isa duty. Wherever.there 
is a Christian church worthy of the name there 
is a treasury from which the poor are con- 
stantly supplied with the comforts of life. 
The Gospel does not teach that the poor should 
be helped indiscriminately. The folly of this 
course is manifest. Indiscriminate almsgiv- 
ing fosters idleness, breaks down self-respect, 
and paralyzes personal effort among the poor. 
Some thoughtful men have even concluded that 
alimsgiving does more harm than good. But 
this is an unjust and ill-founded opinion. Those 
who aid the poor, either as individuals or by 
means of societies, must distinguish between two 
classes at least.’ Dr. Thomas Guthrie divided 
them into “the poor of providence and the poor 
of improvidence.” There are those who through 
no fault of their own, but by sickness, frand, 
fire, or other misfortune, have been reduced to 
penury. Many of them are not only free from 
vice, but devout, exemplary, useful disciples of 
Christ. These have the first claim on the beney- 
olence of Christian people, and that for many 
reasons. We are commanded to “do good unto 


Tuer FRIEND OF THE Poor. 281 


all men, especially to them who are of the house- 
hold of faith.” 

But charity which is genuine does not stop 
here, but reaches out to those who are unworthy. 
The plea, “These people are improvident and 
thriftless, spending their money in needless lux- 


> ig often an excuse of- 


uries, and even in vice,’ 
fered by men who seek to justify their parsi- 
mony. If we would be imitators of God in our 
benevolence we must not turn away the unwor- 
thy at all times, for he sendeth his rain on the 
just and on the unjust, and maketh his sun to 
shine on the unthankful and the evil, and he 
bestowed on us his unspeakable gift while we 
were yet sinners. We must discriminate, it is 
true, and bestow our charity where it will do the 
most good; but those who have received abun- 
dance from the open hand of a benevolent Cre- 
ator must not be so much afraid of wasting it as 
to withhold help from the needy who deserve it 
not. God is lavish with his good gifts, often 
bestowing them where they seem to be utterly 
wasted and worse than wasted. The highest ex- 
hibition of Christian charity is seen in those who 
cheerfully extend a helping hand to their ene- 
mies. “If thine enemy hunger, feed him.” 


282 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


It is not enough to help the poor through so- 
cieties which have been organized for that pur- 
pose. Doubtless the officers of these societies 
are in a better position to judge of the needs of 
those who apply for alms than others can be. 
No doubt charities can be more economically ad- 
ministered in this way than any other, and these 
organizations deserve encouragement, and are 
proper channels through which to distribute 
alms. ut aside from these there will be indi- 
vidual cases coming under the notice of each 
Christian where personal aid may be given. It 
is not according to the plan of Christ that his 
followers should do their charity by proxy. 
They must “visit the fatherless and widow in 
their affliction.” A large share of the benefit of 
helping the poor falls on the benefactor. To 
come into personal contact with poverty, to enter 
into communion with the poor, to cheer them 
with the presence of friendship and kindness, to 
feel the bliss that thrills the soul when following 
in the footsteps of Christ among the poor, is an 
important part of the great plan of the Gospel 
for lifting the unfortunate into a higher life. 

No institution on earth is doing so much for 
the poor as the Christian Church. Monuments 


THe FRIEND OF THE Poor. 283 


of her benevolence may be seen in the hospitals, 
asylums, homes for the aged, almshouses, and 
other eleemosynary institutions which she has 
builded and supported. It is the peculiar mission 
of Christ and his disciples to bind up the broken- 
hearted and comfort those that mourn. We are 
often told that it is because the Church is delin- 
quent in charitable operations that other bene- 
ficiary institutions have become necessary. We 
have no excuse to offer for the delinquency of 
the Church. She has not done a tithe of what 
she ought. But if the streams of benevolence 
which originate in the Christian Church were 
turned away from other societies there would be 
no element of beneficence left in them. The 
vast charities of modern times owe their exist- 
ence to Christianity. 

Christians are required to extend to the needy 
help which is far better than gifts of money. 
Sympathy unostentatiously bestowed, genuine 
Christian friendship, and the respect due from 
one son of Adam to another are far more valu- 
able to the poor than gold and silver. Let 
Christian people imitate their Master in spirit 
and in life. Let them practice those principles 
of justice and righteousness set forth in the Gos- 


284 - RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


pel which, when accepted and practiced gener- 
ally in business pursuits, will secure to the poor 
their just dues, supply their wants, redeem them 
from misery, and inspire them with a spirit of 
independence and manly courage which will dis- 
dain unnecessary aid. 

It is chiefly by inspiring into the hearts and 
lives of the poor themselves those elements 
which will improve their condition that Christian- 
ity proposes to help them. It is not by alms 
alone, though that is something. It is not by 
legislation alone, thongh much remains to be 
done in this direction. It is not merely. by 
changing the environment of the poor, though 
Christianity has effected much, and will still do 
more in this way. But it is by establishing in 
each heart a kingdom of truth and righteousness 
which makes its possessor, independent of sur- 
roundings, master of his environment. He be- 
comes rich without money, royal in a hovel, 
happy in the midst of the badges of woe, mighty 
to help others while he himself is needy. “A 
man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the 
things he possesseth.” When the life of Christ 
is within us the whole world cannot keep us 
from rising. There is an inspiration in genuine 


Tue FRIEND OF THE Poor. 285 


religion which lifts its possessor above his envi- 
ronments and renders him superior to the most 
formidable obstacles. A single fact is often bet- 
ter than an elaborate argument. This fact will - 
illustrate the thought in hand. 

Mr. Spurgeon once related an incident of an 
infidel lecturer who at the close of his discourse 
invited any one in the audience to reply to what 
he had said, supposing that some zealous youth 
would come forward with the usual arguments in 
favor of Cliistianity. All these he thought 
himself prepared to meet. But to his surprise 
an aged woman, wearing a faded shawl and an 
antiquated bonnet, and carrying a market-basket 
and a storm-worn umbrella, advanced to the 
platform, and said: “I paid threepence to-day 
to hear something better than Christianity, and 
I have not heard it. Now let me tell you what 
religion has done for me, and you tell me some- 
thing better, or you have cheated me out of the 
- threepence I paid to come in. I have been a 
widow for thirty years. I was left with ten 
children, and I trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ 
in the depths of poverty, and he.appeared for me 
and comforted me and helped me to bring up 
my children so that they have grown up and 


286 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


turned out well. None of you can tell what the 
troubles of a poor woman alone in the world 
are, but the Lord has made his grace all-sufti- 
cient. I was often very sore pressed, but my 
prayers were heard by my Father in Heaven, and 
I was always delivered. Now you are going to 
tell me something better than that—better for a 
poor woman like me! I have gone to the Lord 
sometimes when I was very low indeed, and 
there’s been scarcely any thing for us to eat, and 
I’ve always found his providence has been good 
and kind to me. And when I lay very sick and 
thought I was dying, and my heart was ready to 
break at leaving my poor fatherless boys and 
girls, there was nothing kept me up but the 
thought of Jesus and his faithful love to my 
soul ; and you tell me that it was all nonsense. 
Those who are young and foolish may believe you, 
but after what I have gone through I know there 
isa reality in religion, and itis no fancy. Tellme 
something better than what God has done for 
me, or you have cheated me out of my three- 
pence. Tell me something better!” The lect- 
urer was at his wits’ end, and said the poor woman 
was so happy in her delusion that he would not 
like to undeceive her. “No,” said she, “that ~ 


Tur FRIEND OF THE Poor. 287 


wont do. Truth is truth, and your laughing 
can’t alter it. Jesus Christ has been all this to 
me, and I could not sit still in this hall and hear 
you talk against him without speaking up for 
him and asking you whether you can tell me 
something better than what he has done for me. 
I’ve tried and proved him, and that’s more than 
you have done.” 

Better than alms, better than good laws for 
the protection of the poor, better than wealth, is 
the experience of the divine presence and help 
which God gives to all those who love him and 
keep his commandments. Blessed are all they 
that put their trust in him. 


288 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


CHAPTER IX. 
THE FOUNTAIN OF BENEVOLENCE. 


In the preceding chapter no mention was 
made of the benevolent organizations through 
which human suffering is being materially 
alleviated by the agency of Christianity, for the 
reason that this subject merits separate treat- 
ment. 

There are sundry reasons why paganism has 
never produced charitable institutions to any 
considerable extent. The superstition by 
which those false religions are characterized 
hinders benevolent action, whether individual or 
organized. Not long since a boat on one of the 
great rivers of China met with an accident. 
Many passengers were thrown into the river and 
drowned. While hundreds of Chinese stood on 
the shore’ and witnessed the horrors of that 
dreadful scene, it was said that no effort was 
made to rescue the unfortunate victims. One 
would suppose that the common sentiment of 
humanity would render such neglect of suffering 


THE FountTAIN oF BENEVOLENCE. 289 


fellow-beings impossible, and so it would did not 
some other principle neutralize the. humane im- 
pulses and prevent them from effecting the 
beneficent designs of the Creator. Inacase like 
the one just mentioned the Chinese, beholding 
the shipwrecked passengers struggling with the 
waves, would say: “These people have been 
overtaken by the wrath of the gods of the river, 
who mean to overwhelm them in the floods, and 
if we interfere the anger of these gods will turn 
against us, and we may share the same fate.” 

In the Acts of the Apostles there isa story of 
shipwreck which brings out a similar supersti- 
tious view of the meaning of calamities. Paul 
and his company were overtaken by a tempest 
on the Mediterranean Sea, as they journeyed 
toward Rome. The ship in which they sailed 
was wrecked on the coast of Melita, and the pas- 
sengers and crew made their way to land, “some 
on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship.” 
The barbarous people on the island, moved with 
natural compassion, showed them no little kind- 
ness, and, kindling a fire, they attempted to make 
the strangers as comfortable as possible in the 
midst of the rain and cold. But when Paul 


gathered a bundle of sticks to replenish the fire 
19 


290 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


a viper, warmed and aroused from stupor by the 
heat, crept from among the burning fagots and 
fastened itself on the hand of the apostle. Im- 
inediately the superstitious barbarians began to 
fear that they might be found fighting against 
invisible powers by offering comfort to these ship- 
wrecked men. They said among themselves, 
“No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, 
though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance 
suffereth not to live.” 

This pagan notion of calamity has prevented 
natural benevolence from doing good and fixed 
a peculiar stigma on the unfortunate mortals on 
whom severe affliction has fallen. The disciples 
of Jesus had imbibed this false doctrine. As 
they walked out with their Master one day 
they saw a man who was blind from his birth, 
and they said unto Jesus, “ Master, who did 
sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born 
blind?” They supposed that his affliction was 
the mark of a relentless retribution, which if 
it failed to strike the guilty man himself would 
vent itself on his children, There are many 
professing Christians who, without thinking 
much about. it, have fallen into a similar error. 
When sickness or trouble overtakes them they 


THE FounTAIN oF BENEVOLENCE. 291 


exclaim, “ We do not know what we have done 
that we should be afflicted in this way.” Or 
when some good man meets with a great loss 
they try to connect it with some act which 
may have been wrong, and begin to suspect 
that he may not be so good a man as his neigh- 
bors supposed. 

But Jesus left not his disciples to grope their 
way through the sorrows of earth in such dense 
ignorance. “ Neither hath this man sinned, nor 
his parents,” said he, “but that the works of 
God might be made manifest in him.” And 
when he had thus spoken he proceeded to give 
sight to the blind. He did not teach that sin 
and suffering bear no relation to each other. It 
is clear that certain calamities are the necessary 
and legitimate results of certain crimes. Jesus 
recognized this fact, and more than intimated to 
one whom he had healed that his illness was the 
result of his sins, and that the only way to escape 
a worse calamity was to “sin no more.” It is 
true that a large share of the diseases and pains 
and anguish which men suffer are the fruits of 
sin directly or indirectly. But what Jesus 
taught was that each particular ill is not the re- 
sult of some definite sin, and that afflictions are 


292 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


not marks of God’s vengeance on individuals or 
families, and that by aiding the unfortunate no 
one runs any risk of incurring the anger of some 
supernatural power. 

This doctrine alone has given a mighty im- 
pulse to Christian charity. True Christians who 
have learned well this lesson cannot look on the 
dark shadows of affliction which eishroud a large 
part of the race and say: ‘‘ These people are to 
blame for their unhappy condition. God is 
angry with them and shows his displeasure. in 
these burdens laid on them. We are God’s fa- 
vored people, and the fact that all is well with us 
is evidence of our happy relations with him.” 
Not so; “ Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, 
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” 
Those who reach out a helping hand to the weak, 
so far from rendering themselves hateful to God 
by this act, really draw the richest blessings of 
heaven down on their own souls. Those who 
visit the sick and imprisoned and minister to 
their wants, those who clothe the naked and 
feed the hungry, shall in nowise lose their re- 
ward. ‘Not only are the recipients of their bene- 
factions comforted and strengthened, but the 
benefactors themselves are benefited even more. 


Tur Fountain OF BENEVOLENCE. 293 


And if it should turn out that those who were 
aided were unworthy pretenders, so that the 
gifts bestowed and the efforts put forth seem 
wasted, yea, though the ungrateful wretches 
should use the means furnished them for vile 
purposes and lustful indulgences, still God re- 
members the givers, whose motives and purposes 
were pure and holy, and on their own souls his 
rewards will not fail to come. 

The charge has been brought against Chris- 
tianity that it encourages sin and discourages 
benevolence by teaching the doctrine of salva- 
tion by faith only. The enemies of the Gospel 
claim that according to this system a man who 
spends his strength in vice or in accumulating 
substance by dishonest methods, wringing the 
life-blood from the veins of the poor by extor- 
tion and oppression, heaping up treasures for 
selfish enjoyment and turning the needy from 
his door, is weleomed into the bliss of heaven if 
he only believes the stories related in the Bible, 
while one who does not believe the Bible is 
sent to hell even though he may have spent his 
days in doing good, and, dying, left his fortune to 
found and support asylums for the suffering. 
This argument has been paraded through this 


294 RELIGION FOR THE ‘l'IMEs. 


country on lecture platforms recently with a 
display of rhetoric and wit which has attracted 
no small share of public attention. | 
The weakness of this antichristian argument 
is in the falsehood which it contains. The Gos- 
pel teaches no such thing. This is a flagrant 
misrepresentation of the doctrine of salvation by 
faith. Christianity does teach the doctrine of 
salvation by faith, but no such faith as the infi- 
del has in mind. “ Faith without works is dead, 
being alone.” “ By their fruits ye shall know 
them.” <A faith that brings forth no fruits of 
benevolence and charity is no Christian faith. 
Jesus tanglit that men whose religion does not 
lead them out into paths of usefulness have no 
part in the kingdom of God, be their professions - 
what they may. He knew the abuses to which 
his doctrines would be subjected and the attacks 
to which they would be exposed, and he guarded 
them so thoroughly that all can understand 
them except those who are stupidly ignorant or 
willfully blind. Lest some might hope to be 
saved without the Spirit of Christ, which is the 
spirit of charity, he drew a picture of the last 
judgment. When the Judge shall descend and 
sit on his throne all nations and people shall be 


Tue FountTAIN OF BENEVOLENCE. 295 


gathered before him, and he will divide them 
as a shepherd separates the goats from the sheep. 
The sheep he will set on his right hand and the 
goats on his left. “Then shall the King say 
unto them on his right hand, Come, ye - blessed 
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 
you from the foundation of the world: for I 
was a hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was 
thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I wasa stranger, 
and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I 
was sick, and ye visited me: [ was in prison, and 
ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous 
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a 
hungered, and fed thee ? or thirsty, and gave thee 
drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took 
thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when 
saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto 
thee? And the King shall answer and say unto 
them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye 
have done it unto one of the least of these my 
brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall 
he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart 
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared 
for the devil and his angels: for I was a hun- 
gered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, 
and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and 


296 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me 
not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, 
when saw we thee a hungered, or athirst, or a 
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did 
not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer 
them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch 
as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye 
did it not to me.” 

According to Christ no religion is acceptable 
to God which does not serve to light with heav- 
enly comfort the path of human sorrow. The 
test of character is in its fruits. And in this 
world of misery the character that bears no fruits 
of practical benevolence is not fit for the king- 
dom of God. Men who talk loudly about the 
love of God and yet love not their neighbors are 
either self-deceived or arrant hypocrites. ‘ Woe 
unto you, hypocrites,” said Jesus to the Phari- 
sees who made.long prayers for a pretense, 
but devoured widows’ houses to satisfy their 
greed. “Therefore ye shall receive the greater 
damnation.” There is hope for publicans. 
The merey of God is so broad that even pen- 
itent harlots may be pardoned. But for the 
Pharisee who oppresses the widow and the 


Tur FountTAIN OF BENEVOLENCE. 297 


orphan there is no hope. “If a man say, I 
love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for 
he that loveth not his brother whom he hath 
seen, how can he love God whom he hath not 
seen?” ‘Pure religion and undefiled before 
God and the Father is this, To visit the father- 
less and widows in their affliction, and to keep 
himself unspotted from the world.” How differ- 
-ent is this religion from that which the infidel 
tries to palin off on the world as Christianity ! 
No one claims that practical benevolence is 
the whole of the Christian religion. In his pict- 
ure of the last judgment Jesus says nothing at 
all about faith as a condition of salvation. The 
love of God is not mentioned as a requisite ele- 
ment of the character of a saint. Not one word 
is said about conversion, regeneration, or repent- 
ance, and yet he would be a thoughtless or un- 
fair man who would claim that these things are 
ignored or repudiated by our Lord because they 
are not mentioned here. Yet some have been so 
rash as to set up this claim. They say, “ This is 
our idea of religion. Christ teaches that practi- 
cal charity is the only essential qualification for 
heaven. Doing good and showing mercy com- 
prise the whole duty of man.” This reasoning 


298 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES. 


is not sound. When James says, “ Pure religion 
and undefiled before God and the Father is this, 
To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic- 
tion, and to keep himself unspotted from the 
world,” he does not say that the whole of religion 
is comprehended in these two things. This is a 
sample of the stock of articles which compose 
the great system. There are other elements 
in religion also, but there is no genuine religion 
without these. 

But where these fruits exist the root and seed 
of faith and Christian love will most surely be 
found. Men talk about a religion of upright 
and benevolent practices without faith, but where 
can it be found? What one of the many boast- 
ing infidels who decry Christianity has ever been 
seen at the side of the afflicted ministering 
consolation and material aid? What one has 
founded and supported a charitable institution 
for the blind, the deaf, the lame, or the feeble- 
minded? There are in the United States thou- 
sands of such institutions. Many of them have 
been founded by States, but many also by soci- 
eties and benevolent individuals ; many of them 
by Churches and Christians. But what home 
for the aged, or refuge for the needy, or asylum 


Tuk FouNTAIN OF BENEVOLENCE. 299 


for the unfortunate, or school for orphans has been 
founded and supported by atheists or infidels ? 
Perhaps one can be found, but not more than one 
or two, and these were established by wealthy 
skeptics, who, under the influence of our Christian 
civilization and institutions and thought, received 
the impulse which led to this noble deed of 
charity. So long as these facts continue what 
becomes of the assertion that practical benevo- 
lence without religion is better than religion with- 
out benevolence? There is no genuine religion 
without real benevolence, and there is no benevo- 
lence worth the name apart from true and genuine 
religion. The rewards of true Christian charity 
are great in this world and in the world to come. 

Christianity has encouraged practical charity 
also by awakening and cherishing feelings of 
pity and compassion. The Stoics taught that 
pity is to be considered a vice rather than a 
virtue. The philosophers of Greece and Rome 
attempted to promote charity and secure among 
their followers active efforts to relieve want and 
ameliorate afiliction. Cicero has left two chap- 
ters on this subject in which the duty of giving 
alms is clearly set forth and earnestly enforced. 
Seneca also taught that men should relieve and 


300 RELIGION FOR THE Times. 


comfort the afflicted, but without the slightest 
feeling of pity. In order to make this seem 
practicable he made a careful distinction be- 
tween clemency and pity. According to this 
philosopher clemency is a virtue which modifies 
the penalty due an offender, but pity is a vice, a 
weakness which would carry deeds of charity to 
unreasonable extremes. Clemency is an essential 
quality of a wise man, but pity is only suited 
for weak women and diseased minds. “The. 
sage will console those who weep, but without 
weeping with them; he will succor the sbip- 
wrecked, give hospitality to the proscribed, and 
alms to the poor; restore the son to the moth- 
er’s tears, save the captive from the arena, and 
even bury the criminal ; but in all his mind and 
his countenance will be alike untroubled.” The 
system of these great philosophers was at war. 
with the entire emotional side of our nature. 
Teaching men to look with cold indifference on 
the death of a wife or child, they left no ground 
in human nature on which to build the founda- 
tions of benevolence. They had fine theories 
about doing good even to the unworthy, but 
they destroyed the emotions, which are the chief 
springs of benevolence. 


Tue FountTAIN OF BENEVOLENCE. 301 


How different the teaching of Christianity ! 
“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep 
with them that weep.” The Author of Chris- 
tianity not only taught his disciples to cultivate 
feelings of compassion, but he set an example 
of tenderness and pity which has made a deep 
impression on the world. Drawing nigh to the 
grave where his friend Lazarus was buried, sur- 
rounded by those whose sobs and moans ex- 
pressed the anguish of their broken hearts, 
“Jesus wept,” and seeing his tears the people 
said, “ Behold how he loved him!” And when 
he drew nigh to the city of Jerusalem on one 
occasion, and looked on the place where God’s 
- word had been made void by its professed 
friends, and thought of the people who were 
ignorant of the day of their visitation and of the 
calamity which like a threatening thunder-cloud 
he saw hanging over the city, he gave vent to his 
feelings in groans and tears. Again and again 
his compassion was stirred for the generation 
among whom he lived. And after his ascension 
to heaven his inspired apostle wrote concerning 
him, “We have not a High-priest that cannot 
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” 
The Bible has done more to awaken pity and 


802 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


compassion in the bosoms of men than all other 
books combined, and Jesus has done more to 
open these springs of charity than all other 
teachers. By elevating these dispositions to the 
rank of virtues, by showing the compassion 
which exists in the bosom of the Father of our 
spirits, and by an example of tender compassion 
toward the suffering, Jesus Christ has filled the 
world with deeds of mercy and organized insti- 
tutions of benevolence. 

Jesus has made a larger contribution to the 
cause of benevolence by a life of unselfish char- 
ity. He was not content with inward feelings 
of pity. Ile has shown that such feelings are 
worthless and worse unless they flow out in 
deeds of merey. _ “ He went about doing good.” 
He not only wept over the grave of Lazarus, 
but raised him from the dead and restored him 
to his sisters. At the pool of Bethesda, where 
lay a great multitude of impotent folk waiting 
for the’ moving of the waters, we see Jesus fixing 
his benevolent eye on the most helpless and ex- 
erting his divine energy for his recovery. As 
he passed by the blind received sight, the deaf 
were made to hear, and lame men leaped for 
joy. It was his meat and drink to cleanse the 


Tue FounrTAIN OF BENEVOLENCE. 303 


lepers, to heal the paralytic, and speak peace to 
the troubled heart. He had not where to lay 
his head. All luxuries and pleasures of earth’ 
were despised by him, because his mind and 
heart were so intently fixed on doing good that 
he had no time nor relish for those pursuits 
which make up the life of sordid and selfish 
mortals. So wonderfully has he impressed his 
personality on men that thousands inspired with 
his Spirit have abandoned the comforts of life 
that they might imitate his example in doing 
good to those who suffer affliction. 

Christianity has built up the cause of charity 
by introducing a new principle of life. Accord- 
ing to this system love is the central principle of 
all true life. Some men consider gain the chief 
aim. Others seek after culture and wisdom. 
Some believe that the secret of greatness is in 
power. In all these cases selfishness is the con- 
trolling principle of life. Whatever men’s fine 
theories may be concerning charity and useful- 
ness, no great benevolent movements will ever 
be set on foot so long as life is directed in these 
various channels by this one great principle. 
But Jesus, who saw the masses struggling igno- 
rantly for the highest ideal of life and going 


804 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


down in disappointment and failure, said, “I am 
come that they might have life, and that they 
might have it more abundantly.” He came to 
lift men to a higher plane of life, to inspire a 
new principle of life into the souls of his people. 
Behold what a change was wrought in his dis- 
ciples! Instead of living for themselves, for the 
fish they could catch out of the Sea of Galilee, 
for the money they could make out of the taxes 
they gathered, they began to have higher aims, 
holier ambitions, nobler principles. Selfishness 
gave place to love. They learned the meaning 
of these strange sayings of their Master: “He 
that saveth his life shall lose it, and he that 
loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” Life is 
found in giving, not receiving; in doing good, 
not accumulating gain; in lifting others up, not 
in attempting to rise by trampling others down. 
To live for others is to live the life of Christ 
and of God. These are they that make life a 
success. They lose their sorrows in soothing 
the sorrows of others. They become glorious 
in giving themselves for others. 

Without this great secret of life all is failure. . 
Jesus had no respect for wealth and greatness 
apart from charity and benevolence. The rich 


Tur Fountain oF BENEVOLENCE. 805 


man who is clothed in purple and fine linen and 
whose table is daily loaded with the most sumpt- 
uous fare the markets can supply, but who sees 
a wretched beggar lie at his gate unpitied 
and unrelieved, is sent to hell to writhe in tor- 
ments without even a drop of water to cool his 
tongue, while the beggar is carried by angels to 
Abraham’s bosom. The curse of heaven falls 
on the soul that hoards his millions for himself 
while the earth groans with agony which he 
might relieve but will not. Jesus has no room 
in his kingdom for rich men who are living 
for themselves. Unless all their possessions are 
under the power of this law of love they cannot 
be his disciples. 

We are deeply interested in the case of 
the young ruler, who, profoundly stirred with 
the doctrine and character of Christ, prostrates 
himself at his feet, saying, “Good Master, what 
shall I do to inherit eternal life?” What a 
splendid opportunity our Lord had on this oc- 
casion to strengthen his feeble cause with the 
reputation and substance of this young man! 
Surely if ever a cause needed money and influ- 
ence it was his. But his decision was instant. 


“Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, 
20 . 


306 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come 
and follow me.” This picture has done more to 
serve the needy and to bless the rich in this 
world than all the books ever written on philoso- 
phy and political economy. Wealth is worse 
than worthless in the hands of a selfish man. 
Love must control our thoughts, our speech, our 
learning, our wealth, or life will be low, narrow, 
and unsatisfactory, and we shall have no part in 
the kingdom of God. What could the selfish 
rich man do in heaven, coming up from a world 
like this, but repeat forever the lines- which 
Thomas Hood has put in the mouth of a wealthy 
lady awakening from a horrible dream: 


“O me, that awful dream | 


‘“‘ And still the coffins came, 
With their sorrowful trains and slow; 
Coffin after coffin still, 
A sad and sickening show. 
From grief exempt, I never had dreamt 
Of such a world of woe! 


“Of the hearts that daily break, 
Of the tears that hourly fall, 
Of the many, many troubles of life, 
That grieve this earthly ball— 
Disease and Hunger, Pain and Want— 
But now I dreamt of them all! 


Tue Fountain oF BENEVOLENCE. 307 


‘For the biind and the cripple were there, 
And the babe that pined for bread, 

And the houseless man and the widow poor 
Who begged—to bury the dead; 

The naked, alas! that I might have clad, 
The famished I might have fed! 


“The sorrow I might have soothed, 
And the unregarded tears ; 

For many a thronging shape was there, 
From long-forgotten years— 

Aye, even the poor rejected Moor, 
Who raised my childish fears! 


“Kach pleading look, that long ago 
I scanned with a heedless eye, 

Kach face was gazing as plainly there 
As when I passed it by; 

Woe, woe for me, if the past should be 
Thus present when I die! 


“No need of sulphureous lake, 
No need of fiery coal, 

But only that crowd of human kind 
Who wanted pity and dole— 

In everlasting retrospect— 
Will wring my sinful soul! 


“Alas! I have walked through life 
Too heedless where I trod; 

Nay, helping to trample my fellow-worm, 
And fill the burial sod ; 

Forgetting that even the sparrow falls 
Not unmarked of God! 


308 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


“T drank the richest draughts, 
And ate whatever is good— 
Fish, and flesh, and fowl, and fruit 
- Supplied my hungry mood; 
But I never remembered the wretched ones 
- ‘That starve for want of food! 


“‘T dressed as the noble dress, 
In cloth of silver and gold, 

With silk, and satin, and costly furs, 
In many an ample fold; 

But I never remembered the naked limbs 
That froze with winter’s cold! 


“The wounds I might have healed! 
The human sorrow and smart! 

And yet it never was in my soul 
To play so ill a part; 

But evil is wrought by want of thought 
As well as want of heart.” 

So important is this new principle of life ac- 
cording to the Christian system that no outward — 
services, however great, no gifts, no deeds of 
benevolence, amount to any thing unless they are 
prompted and directed by this motive. In an- 
other chapter reference is made to that remark- 
able passage of Paul in which he declares that 
neither tongues, nor prophecy, nor knowledge, 
nor faith, nor self-sacrifices are genuine and 
valuable unless they are under the supreme con- 
trol of this divine principle. ‘ And though I 


Tue FountAIN OF BENEVOLENCE. 309 


bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though 
I give my body to be burned, and have not 
charity, it profiteth me nothing.” Munificent 
gifts may be laid on the altar for the founding 
of asylums for the sick and suffering, while the 
altar on which they are offered is vanity and 
ambition. God needs none of our money; but 
we need his grace. By building all true benev- 
olence on this one foundation of unselfish love, 
Christianity has made true charity to be esti- 
mated by character and not by dollars and cents. 
Thus one of the grandest enterprises under the 
sun becomes an expression of character and a 
means of cultivating the highest element of 
manhood. Where the love of God is not found 
in the heart an outward show of charity is 
worthless, and where there is no deed of charity 
there is no love. It is vain for a penurious 
man to talk about his religion. ‘“ Whoso hath 
this world’s good, and seeth his brother have 
need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion 
from him, how dwelleth the love of God in 
him?” This mighty principle of love is irre- 
sistible. When it takes possession of the soul 
nothing can stand before it. All other good 
qualities are included in this. Pity, kindness, 


310 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


patience, gentleness, and sympathy are different 
aspects of love. It is this that has constrained 
men and women to abandon luxuries, pleasures, 
honors, home, comforts, and friends to give 
themselves and their possessions to the cause of 
sorrowing humanity. | 

The historian of European morals says: 
“No achievements of Christianity are more 
truly great than those which it has effected 
in the sphere of charity. For the first time 
in the history of mankind it has inspired 
many thousands of men and women, at the sac- 
rifice of all worldly interests, and often under 
circumstances of extreme discomfort and dan- 
ge1, to devote their entire lives to the object of 
assuaging the sufferings of humanity. It has 
covered the globe with countless institutions 
of mercy absolutely unknown to the whole 
pagan world. It has indissolubly united in the 
minds of men the idea of supreme goodness 
with that of active and constant benevolence. 
It has placed in every parish a religious min- 
ister, who, whatever may be his other functions, 
has at least been officially charged with the 
superintendence of an organization of charity, 
and who finds in his office one of the most 


Tuer FounrAIN OF BENEVOLENCE. 811 


important as well as one of the most legitimate 
sources of his power.” 

Benevolence is not unknown among pagan 
peoples. Perhaps some Christian writers have 
claimed too much on this point. Charitable in- 
stitutions exist in China, India, and almost all 
pagan countries where any degree of civilization 
prevails. There are and have been from remote 
ages foundling hospitals and houses of refuge 
for the afflicted. In Rome hundreds of thon- 
sands of poor people were granted by the gov- 
ernment an allowance of corn every month, 
besides gifts of the rich for the same purpose. 
But this could not properly be called charity. 
It was an arrangement inseparably connected 
with the system of slavery which existed. It 
was a political device to prevent trouble which 
continually threatened the wealthy and the gov- 
ernment from that quarter and was one of the 
chief demoralizing influences of the empire. 
There was neither sympathy, benevolence, nor 
charity in the whole transaction. 

Aside from these public attempts to relieve 
the needy, there were and still are organized 
efforts to assuage the sorrows and relieve the 
pain of the afflicted among enlightened pagans ; 


312 RELIGION FOR THE 'TIMEs. 


but they bear no comparison to the work of 
Christian charity which we witness. No sooner 
did Christianity begin to prevail in the East 
than this peculiar feature of its operations was 
manifest. Hospitals, alms-houses, and asylums 
were established in such vast numbers and the 
good accomplished by them was so manifest that 
a Roman emperor made an earnest effort to pro- 
duce arival system of charity under the auspices 
of paganism to break the force of the influence 
of this feature of Christianity over the popular 
mind. History informs us that when Alexan- 
dria was invaded by a pestilence in 326 A. D., 
and the people fled panic-stricken before the 
grim desolation, the Christians, led on by their 
heroic bishops, visited the sick, consoled the be- 
reaved, and buried the dead who had been aban- 
doned by their friends, not counting their lives 
dear that they might be found following the 
example of their Lord. When loathsome dis- 
eases spread over Europe, filling the people with 
terror and alarm, new hospitals sprung into 
being under Christian effort and were manned 
by sympathetic Christian nurses who, filled with 
the Spirit of their Master, ministered to the 
sick without partiality and withont distinction. 


THE Fountain oF BENEVOLENCE. 313 


These benevolent and self-sacrificing examples 
compelled the respect and admiration of the 
pagan world. The horrible misery which fol- 
lowed the overthrow of the Roman Empire 
found no relief save in the countless institutions 
of charity organized and founded by Christianity. 

In Europe and America at the present time 
charitable institutions may be counted by thou- 
sands, and millions of money are poured out an- 
nually for the relief of suffering. Some will say 
that these institutions are the fruits of modern 
civilization, and not in any sense the work of 
Christianity. How does it happen, then, that 
they are only found in those countries where the 
Bible exerts a profound influence? Why do 
we search in vain for them in pagan countries ? 
There are many benevolent institutions which 
have been founded and supported by the State, 
but even in these cases the sentiment which 
called them into existence was created by Chris- 
tian doctrine. Those which have been estab- 
lished by private enterprise, of which there are 
hundreds, without exception owe their existence 
to Christian or Hebrew enterprise and compas- 
sion. The rest have been founded by the 
Churches. _ 


ue 


314 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


So deeply have the sentiments of Christian 
benevolence rooted themselves in the heart of 
the American people that a sudden and awful 
calamity in any part of the land-is the signal for 
a sudden outpouring of benevolence as mag- 
nificent and generous as the misfortune is ap- 
palling. So it was when Memphis and Jackson- 
ville were desolated by yellow fever, when 
Charleston was shattered by an earthquake, when 
Johnstown was overwhelmed by a flood, and 
when Chicago was swept by the flames. It 
must be confessed that rich merchants in Hong- | 
Kong, moved with compassion by the ery of the 
inhabitants of distant Chinese provinces perish- 
ing of famine, have recently poured out of their 
bounty for the relief of the needy. But no 
small share of the spirit which prompted these 
gifts has been created by the contact with Chris- 
tianity which China has recently experienced. | 
All pagan efforts in this line, unless caused di- 
rectly or indirectly by the Bible, are sporadic, 
intermittent, and feeble. They show the law 
written in the heart, but lack the awakeniug 
force of the Christian religion. 


Tur GUIDE AND PROTECTOR OF YOUTH. 315 


CHAP TER xX. 
THE GUIDE AND PROTECTOR OF YOUTH. 


Gop is represented in the Bible as taking a 
deep interest in childhood and youth. Among 
the laws of the Old Testament for the govern- 
ment of the Hebrew commonwealth and the 
regulation of the conduct of individuals in fam- 
ily relationships the children are not overlooked. 
So profoundly were the people of that nation 
impressed with the interest which God takes in 
the young that many of the barbarous crimes 
against childhood so common in pagan countries 
were altogether unknown among them. Infan- 
ticide was unheard of among the ancient He- 
brews, so that there was no need of a law against 
it. Parents locked on their children as gifts 
from God, and considered childlessness as a re- 
proach from which they most earnestly prayed 
to be delivered. 

The psalmist appeals to Jehovah as the loving 
and thoughtful Being who presides over the 
birth of the infant child and watches over the 


316 RELIGION FOR THE TimEs. 


frail body and undeveloped soul from the ear- 
liest breath. Nothing could inspire parents 
with a higher appreciation of the importance of 
childhood than this doctrine that God conde- 
scends to enter into intimate relations with 
helpless infants and make them his special 
charge. Every true Christian looking back on 
the peculiar perils by which his early life was sur- 
rounded, and considering the marvelous deliver- 
ances he has experienced while yet too young 
to understand the danger that encompassed his 
path, and yet too ignorant to avoid them, rec- 
ognizes the sympathy, the mercy, and _ special 
care of his heavenly Father. Addison has 
beautifully expressed this Christian sentiment — 
coneerning the protection and guidance which an 
all-wise Providence extends to children, in these 


words: 
“To all my weak complaints and cries 
Thy mercy lent an ear, 
Ere yet my feeble thoughts had learned 
To form themselves in prayer. 


“When, in the slippery paths of youth, 
With heedless steps I ran, 

Thine arm unseen conveyed me safe, 
And led me up to man.” 


The Christian doctrine of immortality brings 
childhood up to an exalted plane. The heathen 


Tur GuIDE AND PROTECTOR OF YOUTH. 317 


father who puts his child to death because of 
the inconvenience it will cause him does not know 
its true value. The pagan mother who offers 
her ehild in sacrifice to an idol has not learned 
how infinitely more valuable the child is than 
the idol. No sooner does the doctrine of the 
immortality of every soul born into the world 
become deeply impressed on the minds of men 
than the child’s life and education and salvation 
from sin assume an importance unknown out- 
side of Christendom. 

Whoever considers the treatment which child- 
hood received at the hands of Christ cannot fail 
to see that the divine Author of Christianity in- 
tended to invest this tender and interesting con- 


dition of humanity with a glory it had never 


received before. The language he uses when 
speaking of children must profoundly impress 
the most careless reader: ‘And they brought 
young children to him, that he should touch 
them; and his disciples rebuked those that 
“brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was 
much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer 
the little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. 
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not 


~ 


318 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he 
shall not enter therein. And he took them up 
in his arms, put his hands upon them, and 
blessed them.” 

‘“At the same time came the disciples unto 
Jesus, saying, Whois the greatest in the kingdom 
of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto 
him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, 
Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, 
and become as little children, ye shall not enter 
into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever there- 
fore shall humble himself as this little child, the 
same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” 

On another occasion, when Jesus deplored the 
reception with which the great doctrines of the 
kingdom of God had met, he exclaimed: “I thank 
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, be- 
cause thou hast hid these things from the wise 
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
babes.” 

Again Jesus said: “Take heed that ye de- 
spise not one of these little ones; for I say unto’ 
you, That in heaven their angels do always be- 
hold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” 

When Jesus entered into the temple on a 
certain occasion the children cried, ‘“ Hosanna to 


THE GUIDE AND Protector oF YoutH. 319 


the Son of David;” and the chief priests, being 
sore displeased, said, “‘ Hearest thou what these 
say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye 
never read, Out of the mouth of babes and suck- 
lings thou hast perfected praise ?” 

We do not propose to inquire into the mean- 
ing of these sayings of Jesus concerning the 
children further than to note the fact that he 
gives to them an exalted position among the 
inhabitants of the earth and manifests the deep- 
est interest in them. Many look on children as 
worthless creatures, and if they have any inter- 
est in them it is the interest of natural affection 
which even dumb animals also feel for their 
offspring, or the interest of tenderness which 
the sight of helplessness sometimes awakens. 
Their bodies are so weak that they are not 
able to provide for their own wants, their minds 
are incapable of grasping great thoughts or 
comprehending profound speculations. They 
have no powers of gigantic achievement or 
splendid exploits. Men attach importance to 
kings, philosophers, sages, soldiers, and heroes, 
but set little store by children. Hence the 
disciples of Jesus, affected by the universal 
blindness which is unable to appreciate the real 


320 RELIGION FOR ‘THE TIMES. 


importance of spiritual things, rebuked those 
who brought their children to Jesus. They 
thought their Master was occupied with business 
of greater importance; that he should not be 
disturbed in his great mission by the appeals of 
doting mothers. But Jesus was much dis- 
pleased. Nothing more important had been 
presented to him than this opportunity. He in- 
cluded children among the multitudes who are 
invited to enter into his kingdom, saying, “ Suf- 
fer the little children to come unto me, and for- 
bid them not.” 

The way of the kingdom of God is so plain 
and easy that even children may find it readily 
and walk in it acceptably. While the wise and 
prudent—those: who deein themselves wise and 
assume to teach men; those whom the world 
calls wise and who depend on their own intel- 
lectual resources to find the highest trnths—grope 
in darkness and stumble at the threshold, little 
children, who are free from intellectual pride 
and self-conceit, whose minds are teachable and 
sincere, discern the great things of God and 
the soul, of this life and- the life to come. 
These things have been hid from the wise and 
prudent and revealed unto babes. Those who 


Tur GuIDE AND PROTECTOR OF YouTH. 321 


expect to find them by their own researches and 
will not receive truth except through mathemat- 
ical demonstration or scientific investigation shall 
miss or reject and scorn them. But children 
who walk by faith from the start and have 
never learned any other way shall receive the 
knowledge of God, of righteousness, and of life 
from the great Teacher. 

The words of Jesus are so simple and his 
discourses su transparent that children easily 
understand him. Many modern teachers and 
thinkers who imagine that they have discovered 
the tree of knowledge make use of such obscure 
language when they attempt to impart instruc- 
tion that none but the learned can find out 
their meaning. How often have we toiled for 
hours over a few pages written by some eminent 
philosopher and come out of the study more 
perplexed and confused than when we began! 
But Jesus is the teacher of children. “The 
common people heard him gladly,” and little 
children who have not yet learned to read listen 
with deep interest and everlasting profit to his 
marvelous discourses. Much has been done for 
the children, many books have been written on 


their behalf and for their instruction, but they 
| 


322 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


have been benefited more by the words and 
deeds of Christ than by all other doctrines and 
efforts combined. He has crowned the little 
ones with greater honor, elevated them to a 
higher plane, awakened more interest in and 
sympathy with them, secured for them more 
ardent and intelligent affection and care, more 
wholesome discipline and instruction, than all the 
philosophers, moralists, reformers, and philan- 
thropists in the world. 

Christianity imposes on parents strict obliga- 
tions concerning their children. Nature teaches 
parents to love and care for their offspring. 
This teaching of nature is supported by the 
Bible. They are required to make provision 
for the temporal wants of their children. “If 
any provide not for his own, and specially for 
those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, 
and is worse than an infidel.” Not only are 
they charged with a strict responsibility for the 
bodily care of their children, but also their in- 
tellectual improvement, their moral develop- 
ment and spiritual welfare. “ And, ye fathers, 
provoke not your children to wrath: but bring 
them up in the nurture and admonition of 
the Lord.” “And ye shall teach them your 


THE GuIDE AND PRoTeEcTorR oF Youtu. 323 


children, speaking of them when thou sittest in 
thine house, and when thon walkest by the way, 
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest 
up. 
and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” 


” Train up a child in the way he should go: 


These and other Scriptures impose on parents 
the strictest obligation to study the nature, the 
needs, and the inclinations of their children, to 
watch over their steps with unwearying care and 
unremitting vigilance, and to supply their bodily 
wants, to direct their intellectual development, 
and to nourish their spiritual life. These duties 
are often neglected by men and women who 
profess to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Ignorance lies at the bottom of much of this 
neglect. Parents do not take time and pains 
to inform themselves concerning their own 
children. Since we have all been children it 
would seem that we should all be perfectly 
acquainted with the child mind; yet it is 
doubtful if there is any thing of which adults 
know so little. When they become men and 
women they “ put away childish things ” in such 
a sense as the apostle never intended. The ex- 
periences, the fears, the thoughts of childhood 
are so completely left behind that it is a rare 


324 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


thing to find a father or mother who knows how 
to deal with children. Those who advance the 
most plausible theories about child-training 
sometimes give practical demonstration of the 
fact that they really know little about the sub- 
ject. 

Every Christian father and almost every 
father in Christian lands wishes to deal wiscly 
with his children for their good. But many 
parents who love their children more than their 
own lives pursue that course with them which 
is sure to end in their ruin. In these days this 
is done by overindulgence more frequently than 
1 any other way. Their faults are not corrected ; 
their evil tendencies are not checked; they are 
not punished for disobedience and restrained 
from wickedness, because parental fondness over- 
looks these things or refuses to hurt the feelings 
of idolized offspring. Where money is abun- 
dant, as is frequently the case in our times, the 
peril from this source is greatly augmented. 
Every whim of the children is gratified so far 
as it can be done with money. No work is re- 
quired of them, and no pains or expense is 
spared to relieve them of all hardship. The re- 
sult of this loose discipline or overindulgenco 


TuE GUIDE AND ProtTectror oF Youtu. 825 


is sure to be disastrous and almost sure to be 
fatal. The children grow up in ignorance, for 
they are not required to study. They acquire 
no habits of industry, nor are they inured to any 
trial. When the stern realities of life come 
they are utterly unfit to meet them. There is 
no manly fiber in their bodies or minds. Habits 
of indolence and self-indulgence open the door 
to countless tempters, and these weaklings have 
no powers of resistance. No father can think 
too much of his children, no mother can love her 
sons and daughters too fondly; but when pa- 
rental fondness displays itself in the direction of 
looseness in parental government it is sadly per- 
verted. 

Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, who is well-known 
throughout America not only as a successful 
business man and an eininent railroad president 
but also as one of the most celebrated orators of 
our times, said in a speech recently that when 
he was a boy in college he thought the work re- 
quired of him was prodigious, but knowing that 
his father was rich he looked forward to his 
graduation as the time when his labors would 
cease and he would have an easy time. But 
when he had obtained his diploma his father 


326 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


kindly but firmly announced to the young man 
that he should never receive a penny of the pa- 
ternal fortune except in the will, and that he 
must earn his own living and promotion in the 
world as other young men did. This attitude 
of the father, which appeared to Mr. Depew 
unduly severe at the time, threw him on his 
own resources and made a great man of him; 
whereas, if he had been indulged in idleness, he 
would doubtless have been as worthless as others 
similarly situated. In our day wealth is accu- 
mulating with unparalleled rapidity, and scores 
of rich men’s sons are being wrecked every year, 
always on the same rock. It is a time for par- 
ents to consider. . 

Sometimes the absence of parental restraint 
and -discipline arises more from neglect than 
from misdirected affection. To train up a child 
in the way he should go requires self-control, 
careful study, patient instruction, affectionate 
remonstrance, and firm exercise of authority. 
This requires time, care, effort. Busy parents, 
without stopping to think of the consequences, 
find it easier to do nothing in the line of house- 
hold government, and in many cases children 
are permitted to do as they please through sheer 


Tuer GUIDE AND PROTECTOR OF YOUTH. 327 


neglect. They see their children going wrong ; 
they deplore it, and think that sometime they 
will undertake the task of correction and make 
a business of it until it is thoroughly completed. 
But the desired opportunity never comes. 
When the work of discipline is undertaken 
how unwisely is it often performed! An ex- 
treme case will serve as an illustration. The 
daily press recorded the fact a few days ago 
that two boys in a Pennsylvania town, each 
about eleven years of age, were arrested for 
stealing a ball, and with the consent of their 
mothers were put in jail to frighten them into 
better behavior. One of them was soon re- 
leased at the request of his parents, but the 
other was kept in solitary confinement, without 
any information as to the length of time his 
imprisonment might last. His loud lamenta- 
tions finally gave place to an ominous silence, 
which attracted the keeper of the prison to his 
cell. The youthful prisoner had yielded to de- 
spair and melancholy and hanged himself, but 
fortunately life was not quite extinct, and he 
was restored. The terror of the prison on 
the mind of a child of eleven years was too 
great for endurance. His mother wished to 


328. RELIGION FoR THE Tims, 


cure him, but she had no conception of the 
imagination and emotional nature of childhood. 
The officers intended no evil, but were utterly 
ignorant of the nature and spirit of a child. 
This is a rare case, but the stupidity of the 
mothers concerned is not rare. The violence 
with which children are often chastised, the at- 
tempts to reform those of tender years by im- 
prisoning them in dark closets, the barbarous 
language and tempers with which some parents 
assault their offspring, bear witness to the fact 
that they know not what they do. 

The authority with which Christianity clothes 
the parent is not tyranny, but is consistent with 
the tenderest love and consideration. In fact, it 
requires that the closest’ confidential relations 
between parents and children be maintained. 

It is not unfrequently the case that parents 
who fondly love their children constantly neg- 
lect them in the pursuit of their own personal 
ambitions and interests. No time is set apart 
for familiar intercourse with them. Their stud- 
ies, their troubles and Joys and aims in life, are 
not permitted to occupy the attention of their 
parents. The mind of the father is absorbed 
with his own great plans and operations, beside 


THE GuIDE AND Prorecror or Youtu. 329 


which the cares of his children appear insignifi- 
cant. If children do not find fellowship with 
their parents they will seek it somewhere else. 
They hunger and thirst for sympathy and com- 
munion, and if it is denied them at home they 
will find it abroad. An Indianapolis paper re- 
cently reported the case of a felon who was 
brought before the bar of the court to receive 
his sentence. The judge whose painful duty it 
was to pronounce the sentence had been inti- 
mately acquainted with the culprit’s father, and 
knew him to be a learned lawyer, the author of 
a famous work on some phase of legal science. 
Surprised and grieved at seeing the son of so 
excellent a man in the felon’s dock, the judge 
asked him if he remembered his father. “ Per- 
fectly,” was the reply. ‘He had one invariable 
way of addressing me. Whenever I entered his 
presence he would say, ‘ Run away, my lad, and 
don’t trouble me.’ ” 

Many a man has kept his children out of his 
sight and hearing during the entire period 
of their child-life in order that he might concen- 
trate his mind on the great work he had in 
hand. Many a mother has sent her children 
to play in the streets in order that she might 


330 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


have time for domestic toil or leisure for ex- 
cursions and novel-reading. Parents too often 
consider the presence and play and questions 
of the children as irksome. There are times 
when the busy father must not be disturbed; 
there are social and domestic duties to per- 
form which the mother must leave her chil- 
dren for a time. But there are hours which 
belong to the children, and during which they 
have a right to hold fellowship with their par- 
ents. This duty is as sacred as any other, 
and should not be interfered with by any calls 
except such as are absolutely imperative. If 
the closest union and sympathy between parents 
and children be not maintained, wrecks and 
broken hearts will pay the forfeit. 

Some parents devote all their time to the in- 
terests of their children, but not always in the 
wisest way. They are constantly employed 
about the means of securing material subsist- 
ence and substance for those depending on 
them. They have little time to devote to the 
intellectual, social, and religious improvement 
of their children. It concerns them little what 
books and papers they read, what company they 
keep, what studies they pursue, and what prog- 


Tuer GuIDE AND Prorectror or Youru. 331 


ress they make. It is sad to see busy parents 
toiling like slaves to provide food and clothes, 
and in some cases wealth and luxury, for their 
offspring, and at the same time to see the chil- 
dren growing in culture and refinement and 
changing in taste until an impassable gulf inter- 
venes between them and their parents. The 
house should be well kept, and business obliga- 
tions punctually discharged, but it is possible 
for one to devote present time and toil to his 
children in such a way as to imperil their future 
welfare. The mother who gives every moment 
and every energy to domestic duties for her 
children’s sake and neglects reading and intel- 
lectual culture will soon lose her influence over 
them. She cannot appreciate their tastes and 
aims and thoughts, and they cannot sympathize 
in hers. At the very time when their good 
requires that she should have the strongest hold 
on them she has none. She verily thought she 
had no time to read and think and keep step 
with her children as they grew up and advanced 
in knowledge, but a large part of her time so 
devoted for her children’s sake would have been 
far better spent. 

Mothers often flatter themselves that they will 


332 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


maintain an indissoluble bond of union between 
themselves and their children in the fond aftec- 
tion they cherish for them. Love is indeed the 
supreme tie and the invincible force, but it can- 
not be permanent without frequent intercourse, 
and there can be no intelligent communion when 
the minds of the parents are wholly taken up 
with domestic cares and material interests, and 
the minds of the children are constantly oceu- 
pied with science and literature. One of the 
perils of our age is just here. It is at once an 
age of culture and a materialistic age, and many 
households are being divided, part of them seek- 
ing only material progress and treasures, while 
others seek only culture. 

It is said of a man well known in two conti- 
nents as a profound scholar that in the early 
period of his married life he determined to give 
one hour each day absolutely to his children. 
He devoted that hour to a study of their charac- 
ters and to the direction of their ways. He 
considered this particular hour engaged as sa- 
credly as if he had solemnly promised to spend 
it in some business or social conference, and 
every invitation and call and occupation which 
might tempt him aside was sammaril y dismissed. 


THE GuIDE AND PROTECTOR OF YouTH. 3833 


The result was his children learned to repose 
eutire confidence in him and consult him freely 
on every thing which concerned them. 

A friend who observed the beautiful famil- 
iarity which existed between this great man and 
his children made light of it, saying, “I am too 
busy grubbing all day to earn something to leave 
my children. I have no time for such idleness.” 
This busy man bequeathed a fortune to his chil- 
dren, which for want of discipline and principle 
they soon squandered, while his friend, whose 
familiar association with his children he sneer- 
ingly called idleness, gave to his sons and daugh- 
ters noble principles, more to be desired than 
gold. Thousands of parents who have lived a 
Christian life and offered many prayers for their 
offspring, and given all their time and strength 
to them, and now bemoan their ingratitude and 
waywardness, might find the secret cause of the 
great calamity in their own failure to maintain 
familiar and confidential relations with them as - 
they grew to manhood and woinanhood. 

We hear much about the peculiar trials of this 
nation. The liquor-traffic, Romanism, foreign 
immigration, corrupt literature, and other evils 
are pointed out as peculiar dangers. And so 


334 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES.’ 


they are. But it is to be feared that we do not 
begin to realize how largely the remedy for all 
these evils lies in the training of the children. 
If the peril of foreign immigration is to be met 
with an adequate remedy, the children of the 
immigrants must be educated properly. If the 
peril of the liquor-traffic shall be overcome, it 
will be through the training of those who are 
now young. In fact, almost every thing depends 
on this. The whole nation should turn its atten- 
tion to the study of childhood and find out the 
wisest methods of dealing with the young. If 
this were done in the home, in the church, in 
the school, and in the entire country a grand 
harvest would soon follow. It is a study worthy 
of parents, teachers, legislators, ministers, states- 
‘men, and all those who love the republic and 
desire to promote the highest interests of the 
race. 

Christianity enjoins on parents the duty of 
teaching its precepts and principles to their chil- 
dren and training them up in its ways. Infidels 
show their want of confidence in their own prin- 
ciples by studiously keeping them from their 
children. They never teach their opinions to 
their own children, and often refuse to utter 


THE GUIDE AND PROTECTOR oF YOUTH. 335 


them in their presence. Those who hold doc- 
trines which they are ashamed or afraid to have 
their children hear and know do not set much 
store by those doctrines themselves. 

Christianity brings before the minds of chil- 
dren and youth the most wholesome precepts. 
Beginning with the great central principle of 
character, this commandment is laid on the souls 
of children: ‘‘ Remember now thy Creator, in 
the days of thy youth.” The obligations of re- 
ligion are not postponed until manhood and 
womanhood have been reached, but are wisely 
imposed on the young. Those who maintain 
that the young are not capable of choosing 
wisely in matters of religion, and should, there- 
fore, be kept in ignorance of these things until 
their intelligence shall have matured and their 
judgment enlarged are enemies both of the chil- 
dren and of Christianity. This system of relig- 
ion claims the children for God from the dawn 
of their existence, and, addressing them, points 
their youthful minds to him ere they have be- 
come perverted by the base things of the world. 
The youth who learns this great central precept 
will have laid the corner-stone of an upright, 
useful, and happy life. To set God before the 


336 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


mind from the start is to set the feet in the way 
of life. To recognize the existence, the constant 
presence, the supreme authority and sovereign 
claims of the Creator is a fundamental princi- 
ple of noble character. To look up to God with 
_ reverence, with gratitude, with a spirit of obedi- 
ence and confidence, insures integrity, strength, 
and victory. 

Next to God stand parents. Hence the Bible 
contains these solemn precepts for the young with 
reference to their conduct toward their parents: 


9 


‘“¢ Honor thy father and thy mother.” ‘ My son, 
hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake 
not the law of thy mother.” “A wise son 
heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner 
heareth not rebuke.” “Children, obey your 
parents in the Lord, for this is right.” “ Cursed 
be he that setteth light by his father or his 
mother: and all tle people shall say, Amen.” 
One thing which has made the Chinese the best 
and most stable non-Christian nation in the world 
is the profound respect for parents which Con- 
fucius inculeated, and which the people have 
generally maintained for many centuries. While 
other nations have risen and perished China 
has continued, a monument of the truth of the 


THE GUIDE AND PROTECTOR oF YoutTu. 337 


promise connécted with the commandment which 
Jehovah gave to the Hebrews, “Honor thy 
father and thy mother: that thy days may be 
long upon the land which the Lord thy God 
giveth thee.” 

Another class of precepts particularly adapted 
to the young relates to chastity and temperance, 
and is found in the Book of Proverbs. The first 
nine chapters of this book represent wisdom, or 
the practical knowledge of God, as the only 
source of true virtue and happiness. These nine 
remarkable chapters are principally addressed 
to the young, and have been aptly styled “A 
Manual for Youth.” The sins, temptations, and 
dangers to which the young are chiefly exposed 
are here pointed out with great clearness, the 
ways of the tempter are graphically described, 
’ and the voice of wisdom is lifted up in the most 
wholesome warnings, admonitions, instructions, 
and exhortations. While these chapters contain 
some of the most delicate references to peculiar 
perils to the young to be found in any literature, 
they are to be commended to the young who 
have reached the age when such temptations 
begin to assail them. 


Christianity is a boon to youth also in that it 
22 


338 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


imparts to those of tender age the most elevating 
instruction. The first part of the Book of 
Proverbs has just been referred to as a useful 
manual for the young. We go further and say 
that the whole Bible is the best book in the 
world for young people. The Roman Catholic 
Church prohibits the reading of the Bible by 
the laity, both old and young, except where the 
influence of Protestantism has created a senti- 
ment in favor of reading this book which even 
Rome is unable either to resist or control. Infi- 
dels, who harmonize with Romanism in many 
particulars, maintain that the Bible is not a safe 
book for children and young people to read. 
One of their strongest objections to the Bible 
as a book for the young is based on the alleged 
fact that it contains many impure passages by 
which the morals of the young would be im- 
periled. If it were not so serious a fact it would 
be amusing to find men who resist the postal 
laws of the United States which exclude im- 
moral books and papers from the mails declaim- 
ing against the Christian Scriptures on the 
ground of their immoral influence. This strange 
spectacle we have recently witnessed. That 
thousands of young people have been ruined by 


Tue GuiIpE AND ProtEectTor or Youtu. 339 


the vile literature for which infidel leaders and 
clubs demand unrestrained circulation there can 
be no doubt, but who ever heard of one young 
person being led astray by reading the Bible ? 

As to the delicate nature of the passages re- 
ferred to this may be said: Parents and guard- 
ians should select the lessons which young chil- 
dren may read, as they must choose for them 
what lessons of nature to impart at each ad- 
vancing age. No wise mother will reveal to her 
son all she knows about his own nature and life 
when he is five years old. But if she is wise she 
will not keep these delicate but important facts 
from him too long. She will not allow him to 
learn from the vile the most sacred secrets of life 
lest they should be vile to his thought. She 
will impart them.to him from pure lips, that 
they may forever be pure to him, and they will 
never pollute his pure soul. So if the Bible be 
opened to the young as the volume of nature is 
opened by wise and loving parents it will not 
only be pure but the purifier of their spirits. 
Let them not first come in contact with these 
things in vile literature and vile associations, but 
in the word of God and in the home. 

Many books have been written for young 


340 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


people, but this excels them all. Some would 
have us believe that the Bible is not adapted to 
the young because it laeks the qualities which 
attract and interest the youthful mind. This is 
a great mistake. It is true that young people are 
not eapable of solving many of the problems 
presented in the books of the Old Testament; 
the full meaning of the prophecies of Isaiah 
and Daniel and Ezekiel are too deep for their 
understanding ; but the Bible as a whole is the 
most interesting book for young people to be 
found in all the range of literature, and it is 
only the mind that has been perverted by the 
fictitious and spurious that is not charmed by it. 
The youthful mind is fond of stories of antiq- 
uity. The Bible carries us back to the begin- 
ning. The young are charmed with that which 
is wonderful. The Bible begins with the won- 
ders of creation, ends with the wonders of the 
final consummation of earthly history, and gath- 
ers in its sweep all the grand wonders of human 
story. It opens to the mind the invisible world, 
gives such a view of God and his works as ean 
be found nowhere else, carries its readers up- 
ward to the sublime glories of heaven and down- 
ward till they catch a glimpse of the torments 


Tuk GUIDE AND PROTECTOR OF YouTH. 341 


which sin inflicts on its victims in the world to 
come. The young are pleased with poetry. The 
Bible contains the sublimest strains ever written. 
The youthful mind is charmed with pictures. 
The whole Bible is one magnificent picture-gal- 
lery. The sacred penmen appear to have been 
superior artists. One who looks diligently may 
see drawn in striking colors the home of the 
first human pair, the first great calamity that 
swept over the globe, the ark floating on the 
bosom of the flood, the father of the faithful as 
he is separated from his kindred, the bondage in 
Egypt, the deliverance, and hundreds more of 
the most graphic sketches of the most remark- 
able scenes this world has witnessed. So pict- 
uresque is the Bible record that the master- 
artists of the ages have found in this book their 
best subjects. Children love stories, especially 
if they are true. The stories of the Bible have 
constituted a fund of entertainment and_ in- 
struction for the children of many generations, 
and of these they never weary. 

Perhaps no study is at once so profitable and 
so entertaining to the young as biography. In 
this department of literature also the Bible 
excels all other books. It must be noted that 


34¥ RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


the biographical sketches of the Bible are pecul- 
iarly adapted to the young because of their 
practical value. In every one there is some 
great lesson. Here are examples to be imitated, 
encouragements to a life of integrity and perse- 
verance, and warnings against transgression. The 
story of Joseph has saved many a youth from 
falling and supported the sinking head of many 
wronged and oppressed saints. The story of 
Moses has illustrated to thousands of children 
the care whicha divine Providence exercises over 
his people, and taught the young to choose rather 
to suffer afflictions with the people of God than 
to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. The 
life of Samuel has made many an _ honest states- 
man. The account of Daniel which the Bible 
contains has inspired the young with firnmmess in 
the way of righteousness amid the corruptions 
of high places. Cain and Jeroboam, Saul and 
Solomon have stood as beacons on a rocky coast 
to warn the young of perils nigh at hand. 
Certain unbelievers have admonished us that 
some of the saints of the Bible were guilty of 
erimes for which if they lived in our day they 
would be condemned to imprisonment for life, 
and that these character-sketches give young 


THE GUIDE AND ProTecror oF Youru. 343 


people low ideas of the character of God and 
tend to encourage immorality. But it should be 
remembered that God does not approve of the 
sins into which good men have sometimes fallen. 
Certain noted characters in the Bible were God’s 
chosen and honored instruments for the accom- 
plishment of his wise designs, but after hav- 
ing served him faithfully in many things they 
yielded to temptation and fell into shameful 
transgression. There is nothing in the Bible to 
show that God either approved or overlooked 
their sins. How then does the Bible encourage 
immorality ? In some cases these distinguished 
delinquents repented of their iniquities and were 
restored to the favor and service of the Almighty, 
while in other cases we have reason to believe 
that they died in their sins. But in no ease 
does the Bible commit Jehovah to the indorse- 
ment of crime. There is a mark of marvelous 
fidelity to truth in the Bible in this—it does 
not hide the infirmities and sins of its heroes. 
If one of them proves recreant the record is faith- 
ful though the reputation of one who had been 
held up as a friend of God suffer. This fact 
strengthens the evidence of the credibility of 
the Scriptures. 


344 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES, 


Of all the character-studies of the Bible, and 
of all other literature, that of Jesus Christ is 
most marvelous and most useful. Jere is some- 
thing altogether unique and far above the plane 
of mere human life. Jesus Christ as repre- 
sented in the gospels is “altogether lovely.” 
Tis person, his work, his words, his life, are 
perfect. There is no fault in him. This char- 
acter has endured the closest scrutiny, not only 
of his foes who surrounded and pursued him 
through life, but of those who have sought to 
detract from his glory in later times; yet no one 
has been able to find a fault in the person or a 
flaw in the picture which the evangelists have 
drawn of Jesus of Nazareth. He made no mis- 
take which he afterward regretted ; he fell into 
no errors of which he afterward repented ; he ut- 
tered no sentence which it was necessary for him 
to retract, revise, oramend. Most men who have 
thoughts to communicate labor under an ap- 
prehension lest what they say will perish too 
soon. Hence they commit their doctrines to 
writing, that they may be circulated as widely as 
possible while they live and remain to represent 
them when they are dead. But Jesus had no 
such apprehension concerning his words. Ie 


Tuer GuIDE AND PrRorTrecTror oF Youtu. 345 


wrote nothing; he simply spake, flinging his 
message upon the world with a sublime confi- 
dence in its immortality. And no words ever 
uttered have so profoundly moved and so thor- 
oughly revolutionized the world. He was not 
only tempted in all points as we are, without sin, 
but every effort of which his vigilant and ma- 
lignant enemies were capable was made to en- 
tangle lim in his doetrine and catch him in some 
utterance by which they might secure his con- 
demnation, but without success. Ile was holy, 
harmless, and separate from sinners, but never 
frowned on the innocent joys and social pleas- 
ures of life. Here is a model which every young 
person will do well to study. The more he 
thinks on this wonderful character the more he 
will admire it. One may admire, love, and 
adore the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart, 
and the more he imitates him the better he will 
become. 

Young people are not only impressed but 
their characters are affected by what they see 
and read. A vile picture isa dangerous object 
for the eye of a child. Though but a sight 
of it be caught it will leave an impress on the 
mind never to be effaced. A good picture hung 


346 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


in the parlor will affect the mind of the child 
for good, although he may be unconscious of the 
process. Pernicious books produce a lasting and 
baneful effect, although the reader may not be 
aware of the mental change being effected in 
him. Te will be gradually but unconsciously 
transformed into the image of the heroes of the 
stories with which his heart has become fasci- 
nated. Many parents wonder why their sons 
who have received wholesome instructions at 
home turn out bad, when, if they studied the case 
closely, they should discover that their characters 
were molded by the heroes of certain books 
which possessed a strange charm for them. 
They gazed on these strong but bad features 
until their pliant spirits were indelibly stamped 
with the same image. There are young women 
who from childhood have read books which con- 
tain false representations of love, of womanhood, 
of happiness and life, and, gazing steadfastly 
with ardent feeling on these images, they have 
been fashioned after a false model. This is the 
secret of many asad failure. None but the best 
models should be presented before the minds of 
children and youth. There is one absolutely 
perfect Model, and there is no other. No litera- 


THE GUIDE AND PROTECTOR OF YOUTH. 347 


ture has furnished a parallel to the life of Christ 
contained in the gospels. Young people gaz- 
ing on this picture intently and steadfastly be- 
come more avd more like him. The apostle 
expresses this thought in this sublime language : 
“ We all, with open face beholding as in a glass 
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
same image from glory to glory, even as by the 
Spirit of the Lord.” 

Christianity puts great honor on childhood by 
clothing it with mighty influence and working 
through it gigantic achievements. Philosophers, 
sages, kings, warriors have had more than their 
share of honor from men. This world stands 
in awe of spectacular displays of might and maj- 
esty. Samson and Hercules have been ideals 
of human power. The men with thews of steel 
have always commanded respect and admiration. 
Those who have occupied thrones and marched 
at the head of conquering armies have caused 
the earth to tremble. Intellectual vigor and 
brilliancy have received much reverence. Men 
look to the great scholars and scientists and 
statesmen as fountains of light and agents of 
needed reforms and improvements. Cold in- 
tellect has occupied the throne of the world in 


348 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES, 


its time. But the time will come when neither 
physical strength, nor wealth, nor scepters, nor 
intellect shall be king, but heart shall be su- 
preme, and the world with all its wealth and ma- 
chinery and crowns and culture shall cheerfully 
submit to simple love. Jesus Christ projected 
his kingdom on a new plan, and proposed the 
conquest of the world by a new sort of armies 
and soldiers. According to his scheme not 
many wise, not many great, not many mighty 
were called, for God had chosen the weak things 
of this world to confound the mighty. In the 
vision of the prophet which proclaimed the glad 
day when the lion and the lamb and the leopard 
and the ox shall feed together and lie down in 
peace it is said that “a little child shall lead 
them.” Our Lord looked upward when he ut- 
tered these words, “I thank thee, O Father, 
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid 
these things from the wise and prudent, and 
hast revealed them unto babes.” Not only may 
children understand the fundamental principles 
of Christianity, adopt and practice them, but 
they possess peculiar qualities which make them 
valuable instruments in the propagation of right- 
eousness. Not only is the child in its innocence 


THe GuipE AND Prorecror or Youtu. 349 


and meekness a symbol of the saint and a model 
of what wise men must become, but they possess 
elements of strength with which the great ones 
of earth have parted in their ambition to rise to 
places of power. Children are sometimes looked 
on as beautiful ornaments and charming objects 
of affection, but utterly useless so far as impor- 
tant achievements are concerned ; but God, who 
hath chosen the weak things of the world to 
confound the mighty, proposes to make of them 
leaders and teachers and conquerors. It is cer- 
tain that even the Christian Church has not yet 
learned the tremendous resourees that lie en- 
wrapped in the souls of the young. Great prog- 
ress has been made on this line, but to this day 
the child is looked on at best as one who may 
grow into a reformer or prophet by develop- 
inent and culture. But in the child mind and 
child heart there are qualities of immense im- 
portance in the battle between good and evil 
which Christ long ago discerned and pointed out 
and Christianity alone can render useful. 

We begin to see it rising in the vast army 
of Sunday-school children which the Christian 
Church has marshaled, and in the hosts of young 
men and women only recently organized for 


350 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


service in the cause of truth. We do not say 
that culture and learning and experience and 
wealth can be superseded or dispensed with. We 
do not imagine that children can step to the 
front in church work, church government, and 
missionary enterprises. Men of culture and ex- 
perience and mature age with child-like spirit 
must always rule in Church and State, control- 
ling and operating all important educational and 
evangelistic movements. But children them- 
selves, with their faith, their songs, their offer- 
ings and simple obedience, are yet to play a more 
important part in the redemption of the world 
from sin and selfishness and misery than the 
wisest man or most enthusiastic reformer has 
yet dreamed. An evangelist who has gained 
a wide reputation for usefulness in England and 
America begins every series of evangelistic serv- 
ices with children’s meetings. He preaches to 
children only night after night for weeks to- 
gether. When multitudes of children and young 
people have become intensely interested in re- 
ligion he begins to preach to adults. There is 
a deep philosophy in this feature of his work. 
Parents who could not be induced to attend 
church by any other means are easily led by 


THE GUIDE AND Protector or Youru. 351 


their own children who have been reached by 
the Gospel and melted into sympathy with 
Christ by the Holy Ghost. This is often the 
case under the Gospel. The order of man is 
reversed. Instead of parents leading their chil- 
dren the children lead their parents. Inroads 
are being made by Christianity on heathen lands 
by this same process. All pagandom shall be 
undermined by the simple efforts of children 
into whose hearts the Gospel is now infusing the 
light and love of God; and in that song of tri- 
umph which shall rend the skies when the earth 
is redeemed the children shall raise the sweetest 
note. 


352 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


CHAPTER XI. 
CONSOLATION IN OLD AGE. 


Tur reluctance with which men confess that 
the symptoms of advanced age are present with 
them is deeply significant. It declares more 
plainly than words can utter the silent dread 
with which the approach of the evening of life 
is viewed. It is exceedingly interesting to 
watch the play of the feelings as one who has 
passed the middle stage of life and is evidently 
moving rapidly down the western slope of the 
hill notes the gradual failure of his strength 
and decay of his faculties. One of our own 
poets has painted the picture which is so famil- 
iar to us all in these lines: 


“My growing talk of olden times, : 
My growing thirst for early news, 
My growing apathy of rhymes, 
My growing love for easy shoes, 
My growing hate of crowds and noise, 
My growing fear of taking cold, 
Ajl whisper in the plainest voice, 
‘T’m growing old.’ 


CONSOLATION IN OLtp AGRE. 353 


“T'm growing fonder of my staff, 

I’m growing dimmer in the eyes, 
I’m growing fainter in my laugh, 

I’m growing deeper iu my sighs, 
I’m growing careless of my dress, 

I’m growing frugal with my gold, 
I’m growing wise, I’m growiug—yes, 

I’m growing old.” 

When we come to inquire why it is that old 
age is dreaded, these reasons occur to the mind: 
Old age withdraws us from the active pursuits 
of life ;. the farmer must abandon the cultivation 
of the soil; the manufacturer must turn over his 
favorite vocation to another; the merchant must 
cease to manage the business of his establish- 
ment; the statesman must withdraw from the 
political arena, and the minister must give up 
his pulpit to another. Years of activity in one’s 
chosen occupation awaken in him a deep interest 
and natural attachment. He has thought over 
its details, talked about its condition and pros- 
pects, built it up by his own efforts until it 
appears to him to be an important element of 
his life. To step aside and’ make room for an- 
other is not easy. Many who delight in~ work 
and rejoice in the offices they perform and the 
place they fill and the part they take in the im- 


portant movements of the ia feel a tremor 
23 


354 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


about the heart when the fact stares them in the 
face that they must be laid on the shelf. 

Old age is unwelcome also because it is 
atime of decay. Youth is a period of special 
pleasure because it is a time of growth, and 
manhood is embraced with gladness because 
it is a time of maturity; but old age is 
dreaded because the physical forces become im- 
paired and the intellectual faculties enfeebled as 
the latter days of life come on. It is natural to 
shrink from decay. Akin to this is the regret 
with which men part with certain pleasures 
which are limited to earlier periods of life. This 
is particularly the case with men and women 
who live for pleasure. The pleasures of eating 
and drinking and social life appeal strongly to 
many. They cannot understand how one can 
live when these gratifications are no longer pos- 
sible. To them this sort of pleasure is life. To 
be compelled to pass a year without feasting and 
revelry would be an insufferable punishment. 
To such persons old age is extremely forbidding. 

Another count in the indictment against old 
age is-that it makes man disagreeable to his - 
kindred and neighbors. Barbarous tribes some- 
times put their old men and women to death, 


CONSOLATION IN Oxtp AGE. 355 


because, having become helpless, they are bur-. 
densome to those who have to provide for them. 
With advancing age the disposition of the mind 
often becomes peevish, fretful, and discontented, 
rendering the presence and conversation of the 
aged one a torment to all about him. Cicero 
makes Ceecilius say, ‘I reckon this circumstance 
connected with old age the most wretched, to 
be conscious at that age that one is disagreeable 
to others.” Witnessing the fretfulness and un- 
happiness of some old people, and the feelings 
with which they are sometimes looked upon by 
younger relatives into whose hands they have 
fallen, many have been led to dread the approach 
of old age and wish that they might never live 
to see that period. 

«Perhaps, however, the strongest objection to 
old age with most men is that it is the stage of 
life which is nearest death. Death may be near 
to the youth, but that heis near to the aged there 
can be no question. Life issweet, Satan came 
near telling the truth when he said, “ All that 
a man hath will he give for his life.” To stand 
on the utmost verge of life and look forward, 
knowing that the end is at hand, appears to most 
men a state of unutterable sadness. 


356 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


- These are some of the conditions and cireum- 
stances of old age which serve to render it pe- 
culiarly unwelcome. Because of the general 
aversion to old age philosophers have sought to 
set forth its attractive features in such a way as 
to reconcile those who are growing old to their 
lot. Perhaps the most charming of all the 
works of Cicero, the polished Roman thinker, is 
his essay on old age. This little book is still 
read with deep interest by many, both because 
of the scholarly style in which it is written and 
the beauty, sublimity, and truth of many of its 
doctrines. The consolations of old age which 
-Cicero mentions are the best that philosophy can 
offer. He points ont the fact that men may 
preserve their faculties unimpaired to a ‘great 
age by proper discipline, that the influence of 
wise and virtuous men increases with their years, 
that there are many offices of authority and 
responsibility which old men can discharge far 
better than young men, and that there are cer- 
tain pursuits to which they can turn and in 
which they may occupy themselves and find 
solid pleasure. But the chief consolation he has 
to offer is the hope of another life after death. 
Those who have read this part of Cicero’s 


CONSOLATION IN OLp AGE. - 357 


remarkable essay. have seen the best argument 
that philosophy ean produce in favor of immor- 
tality and the most confident expressions of hope 
which can be found in pagan literature. Yet, as 
Robert Hall has said, this is but “an airy specu- 
lation,” and “ there is reason to fear it had little 
hold on his convictions.” 

Better than all the speculations of philosophy 
are the revelations and promises of the Gospel. 
This system of religion, which has done so much 
for children and youth; the poor and the afflicted, 
for those who are oceupied with secular pursuits, 
and those engaged in the culture of the intellect, 
has also crowned old age with glory and honor, 
and dispelled the shadows which gather about 
this period of human existence. 

The Christian religion promotes length of 
days. “ With long life will I satisfy him” is 
the promise which Jehovah makes to those who 
serve him in righteousness. It is natural to 
desire long life. Length of days is a blessing 
not to be despised, and so far from despising it 
are prudent and wise men that they earnestly 
desire it. The author of the Book of Proverbs 
says: “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom. 
Length of days is in her right hand.” He also 


358 RELIGION FOR THE ‘TIMES. 


commends the commandments of the Lord on 
this high ground: “For length of days, and 
long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.” 
The promise which accompanies the fifth com- 
mandment in the Cecalogue is this: “That thy 
days may be long upon the land which the Lord 
thy God giveth thee.” 

It has been frequently noted that many good 
men die young. Some of them are suddenly 
cut off by calamities which proceed immediately 
from the hand of God himseif; others are smit- 
ten by their foes, and fall a prey to malice and 
wickedness; others are hurried out of the world 
by their own zeal, exposing themselves to dis- 
ease and death in their efforts to promote the 
glory of God and the progress of his kingdom. 
Thousands of Christian martyrs have been cut 
off in the midst of their days, and thousands of 
Christian workers have died in early manhood 
or womanhood the victims of their own intem- 
perate zeal or imprudence ‘with regard to health 
and life. How, then, can this promise be said 
to be fulfilled in these cases ? 

Life is not measured by months and years. 
Many men live more in a day than others live 
in a score of years. There are multitudes of 


CONSOLATION IN Otp AGE. 359 


gray-headed men who have lived a life so base 
and low that it is not worthy to be called life. 
Such a life is not worth living. Others have 
crowded so much of usefulness and goodness 
into a few years that they have made every day 
replete with noble feelings, grand actions, and 
glorious thoughts. 


“They err who measure life by years, 
With false or thoughtless tongue; 

Some hearts grow old before their time ; 
Others are always young. 


“Tis not the number of the lines 
On life’s fast-filling page, 

’Tis not the pulse’s added throbs 
Which constitute their age. 


“Some souls are serfs among the free, 
While others nobly thrive; 

They stand just where their fathers stood, 
Dead, even while they live. 


“Others, all spirit, heart, and sense, 
Theirs the mysterious power 

To live in thrills of joy and woe, 
A. twelvemonth in an hour!” 

While the virtues which Christianity incul- 
cates promote length of days, a profession of the 
Christian religion or a practice of a part of its 
precepts will not secure one against the evil con- 
sequences of violating others. While the great 


360 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES, 


end of Christianity is to redeem the soul from sin 
and prepare it for heaven it is not indifferent to 
the welfare of the body also. Temperance in eat- 
ing and drinking, cleanliness and care for the 
health of the body, are among its wholesome in- 
junctions. The body is honored by being made 
the temple of the Holy Ghost and the instru- 
ment of extended, usefulness,.ana the wrath of 
Hoe is revealed against Oe Pee defile Bes 
Peek sie to the os wry - ee pean health 
abridge their usefulness, offend God, and thwart 
the purposes of his tr uth and grace. When such 
men fail to reap the reward of the righteous in- 
eluded in a hale old age of happiness, and useful- 
ness it is not the fault of the Christian system, 
nor does it make void the promise of Jehovah. 
Christian people who embrace all the advantages 
offered by the Gospel do live long. The wicked 
live not out half their days. As a rule life is 
shortened by drunkenness, licentiousness, and 
all forms of ungodliness. But those who dili- 
gently keep the precepts of the Bible have the 
best life-insurance policy ever yet found. 
Christianity tends to increase the length of hu- 
man life by the reformations it produces in society. 


CONSOLATION IN Oxtp AGE. 361 


It is not merely to benefit individuals that this 
divine system has been promulgated, but also to 
redeem nations and society in general from the 
curses under which they groan. By exalting 
manhood, placing a high value on life, showing 
man his relation to God, the Creator, and. to 
eternity, Christianity has awakened the intellect 
to think and invent means for the improvement 
of the race. Under this inspiration science has 
been promoted, remedies for diseases and plagues 
have been discovered and applied, and the sources 
of plagues and premature deaths have been sought 
out and to a large extent overcome. It is under 
the influence of Christian thought that the sci- 
ence of medicine has reached its highest degree 
of perfection, that sanitary precantions have 
been adopted in large cities by which uncounted 
multitudes of lives are saved every year. The 
average age to which human beings live in 
Christian countries is far greater than that at- 
tained anywhere else on the globe. And when 
this system of religion shall become universal, 
and its influence inspire the spirit of the Jaws 
and customs of all nations, the proportion of 
those who will live to old age will be far greater 
than it now is. It has already been discovered 


362 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


in Christian countries that the appalling loss of 
life among little children which until recently. 
has prevailed throughout the whole world is pre- 
ventable. By Christian charity, by Christian 
ideas of care for human life, this tremendous 
death-rate has been greatly reduced, and is being 
reduced still more every decade. 

The cleanliness which Christianity enjoins and 
promotes is often contrasted with the disease- 
producing filth which is not only tolerated but 
encouraged by other religions. The Allahabad 
Pioneer recently published an account of the 
manner in which cholera germinates in Mecea, 
from whence it is carried westward by the hordes 
of pilgrims who go to worship at that Moham- 
medan shrine: ‘ About six miles cast of Mecca 
is a place called Moona, where the sacrifices 
have to be offered up at the yearly Hadji. In 
no other place about Mecca is it lawful to slay 
animals. The number of beasts killed, from 
camels to goats, is about seventy thousand. 
Nearly all these are slain in one day between 
9 A. M. and noon. The odors are described 
even by the pilgrims as awful beyond words, no 
attempt being made to dispose of the refuse. 
Here the annual epidemic of cholera begins, and 


CONSOLATION IN Onp AGRE. 363 


is carried by the Hadji to their various countries. 
For many years to come the season of the Hadji 
will be in the warm weather, and while Moham- 
medanism lasts there seems to be no interfering 
with this origin of cholera.” 

Filth would appear to be a prime virtue among 
Mohammedan and pagan peoples. Ignorance, 
poverty, filth, and disease flourish in Eastern 
countries as noxious plants, venomous serpents, 
and savage beasts flourish where the husband- 
man has not put in the plow and the forces of 
civilization have not penetrated. These are all 
incompatible with long life and comfortable old 
age. 

Christianity puts the highest honor on old age. 
What men by nature usually despise or treat light- 
ly God in his word teaclies us to exalt in our es- 
teem and affection. Barbarous people place but 
little value on childhood, and still less on old 
age. Among savage tribes aged parents are 
sometimes left to perish or killed outright be- 
cause they are no longer able to engage in the 
chase and in warfare and have become a burden 
to those who are young and strong. In some 
non-Christian civilized countries wise men have 
been raised up who taught noble doctrines con- 


364 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


cerning the aged. In certain Oriental countries, 
following the precepts of their sages, the people 
treat the aged with profound respect. We are 
glad to recognize this fact. It is no disparage- 
ment to Christianity that some of the virtues 
which it inculeates may be found among the 
nations where its light never shone. The apos- 
tle teaches us that when the Gentiles who have 
not the law do by nature the things which are 
written in the law they show that the law is 
on their hearts. God is not unmindful of the 
heathen, nor wholly absent from their counsels. 
There is a light that lighteth every man that 
cometh into the world, and this light is from 
God. Some teachers in pagan lands. perceive, 
appreciate, and follow that light. wo W er rejoice 
in this fact. Would that reverence for the aged 
were as conspicuous every-where as it was in 
Sparta and as it is to-day in China! 

But we do not find that so great honor as 
Christianity has placed on old age has been 
accorded to it by any other system. ‘“ Thou 
shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor 
the face of the old man, and fear thy God,” is 
the law which the Lord God gave to Israel by 
Moses. ‘“ The hoary head is a crown of glory, if 


CoNSOLATION IN Oxup Aaz. 365 


it be found in the way of. righteousness,” is the 
declaration of the word of God. It is a com- 
mon thing in Christian countries to see a daugh- 
ter who has denied herself the pleasures and 
advantages of marriage that she might remain 
at home to care for an aged father or mother 
in helplessness extreme. Many a son may be 
found cheerfully assuming the burden of the 
support of his parents in the evening of their 
days, refusing to allow them to live anywhere 
but under his roof, and finding in this service 
the sweetest pleasure of his life. We have 
known sons professing Christianity to neglect 
their parents who had become helpless and 
blind and compassed with the infirmities of age, 
but their conduct was a reproach to the religion 
which they professed. 

In no other part of the world can there be 
found homes provided for aged people who are 
no longer able to support themselves except in 
those countries which are under the influence of 
Christian teaching. There is not a Christian de- 
nomination of any importance which has not 
established such institutions for its aged mem- 
bers. In these homes men and women who are 
so unfortunate as not to possess means sufficient 


366 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


for their sustenance, and are no longer able to 
- work because of the infirmities of age, live in 
comfort and pass the evening of life free from 
anxiety and care and want. We have visited 
several such monuments of Christian respect: for 
the aged, and have been touched by the appear- 
ance of comfort in the external appointments 
and the evidence of contentment in the inmates. 
Few persons can visit them without being moved 
to gratitude that Christianity has crowned with 
honor and happiness the declining years of hun- 
dreds who in other lands would have suffered 
from neglect and want. 

Christianity produces the most beautiful and 
happy old age. The virtues which it inculcates 
and imparts to all those who truly embrace it 
are a fitting ornament for any age, and especially 
for those whose way lies near to the utmost 
verge of life. The natural tendency of ad- 
vanced age is to produce fretfulness, peevish- 
ness, and discontent. But the effects of the 
Christian religion on the spirits of the aged are 
marvelous. Fretfulness gives way to patience, 
peevishness to amiability, and discontent to sub- 
stantial happiness. The infirmities of age are 
inevitable. Christian patience does not remove 


CONSOLATION IN Oxtp AGE. 3867 


nor conceal them, but it endures them without 
murmuring. Nothing is more beautiful than an 
aged man whose increasing infirmities compel 
him to retire from the active pursuits of life, 
giving place to younger men with dignity, 
grace, and cheerfulness, beholding the pleasures 
of the world vanish without a sigh, witness- 
ing the strength and success of his younger 
neighbors without one spark of envy or jealousy, 
bearing about a smiling countenance and a cheer- 
ful heart, with words of encouragement and 
kindness for all and a disposition full of gentle- 
ness and unselfishness. Such a patriarch is a 
blessing to the community in which he lives, 
and the world will be poorer when he is 
gone. 

His strength is decaying, to be sure, but he 
has found a higher strength which does not 
depend on toughness of physical fiber and 
vigor of intellectual faculties. Te has learned 
the secret of which the apostle Paul spoke 
when he said, “Therefore I take pleasure in 
infirmities, ... for when I am weak, then am I 
strong.” Although the outward man perishes 
the inward man is renewed day by day. He 
sings with the psalmist, “My flesh and my 


868 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


heart faileth: but God is the: strength of my 
heart, and my portion forever.” 

Not only strength, but beauty also, decays 
with advancing age. It is interesting and often 
sad to note the tenacity with which men and 
women cling to’the freshness of earlier days 
and seek to repair the ravages of accumulating 
years. When this can no longer be done they 
endeavor to replace the charms of youth with 
artificial substitutes. The hair is colored, the 
face painted, and other inventions resorted to in 
order to banish the marks of age. These devices 
are indeed vain and foolish, and often pitiful, but 
they indicate a natural desire which is not to be 
despised. Let no one affect to despise the beauty 
of childhood and youth, or undervalue the ~ 
charms which full-grown manhood and woman- 
hood display, or condemn the natural desire to 
retain them as long as possible. Let no one 
smile at the grief which arises on account of the 
decay of the beauty of countenance with which 
the Creator has adorned many human beings. | 
Jet the beauty of the Lord our God be 
upon us” is a prayer which every soul may 
very properly offer. There is a beauty in the 
Oreator of which men can form only faint con- 


CoNSOLATION IN Oxtp AGE. 369 


ceptions. Outward expressions of his ideas of 
beauty may be seen in the visible universe. The 
rainbow that throws its glory on the bosom of 
the retreating storm, the sunset in which the 
forests and hills and fields and skies are bathed 
in splendor which no language can describe and 
no artist’s skill imitate, the morning when the 
soft light brings out the charms of nature as 
though they were new-born, all express God’s 
thought of beauty. There is much deformity 
and disorder in the world. Perhaps these are 
necessary attendants of beauty, as shadows must 
always be present where the light shines. But 
the marvelous beauty which fills the world must 
attract the thought of all save the most stupid. 
There is a beauty in the spring and the summer 
and the autumn and the winter, while each 
month of the revolving year has its own pecul- 
iar beauty. There is beauty in the sea, in the 
river, in the tiniest streamlet. There is beauty 
in the mountains and the little hills. There is 
beauty in the forests that crown the hills and in 
the flower that blooms at our feet. There is 
beauty in the living creatures which God has 
made and placed on the land and in the sea. 


There is beauty in the face of the child in its 
24 


370 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


mother’s arms and of the maiden verging on the 
borders of womanhood. Since the Creator has 
devoted so much thought to beauty, and bestowed 
it so lavishly on the creatures of his hand, it is 
not to be despised. 

But there is a higher order of beauty—the 
beauty of the mind and heart. It consists in 
purity of affection and desire, in benevolence of 
disposition, in integrity of will and purpose, and 
in righteousness of principle. This inward spir- 
itual beauty is expressed in words of gentleness, 
kindness, and charity, in deeds of benevolence, 
self-sacrifice, and heroism, and in a counte- 
nance of divine benignity and grace. None of 
us have the gift of discerning spirits unerringly, 
but all may know something of the inner life 
by the outward expression. “ By their fruits ye 
shall know them.” “ Out of the abundance of 
the heart the mouth speaketh.” If the tongue 
were dumb there is yet a language in the eye 
and other features of the countenance. 

Spiritual beacty never fades. The grass with- 
ers, the flower fades. The beauty of the sunrise 
and sunset lasts but an hour. The beauty of the 
child soon passes away. The beauty of woman- 
hood is transient. But the beauty which God 


CONSOLATION IN Oxtp AGRE. 371 


imparts to the spirits of his saints is a fadeless 
treasure. It is the beauty of the Lord our God 
impressed on the soul. The hair may turn gray, 
the cheeks may lose their ruddy hue, the luster 
may fade from the eye, but the beauty of love, 
of truth, of righteousness, is as fresh in old age 
asin youth. And this, after all, is real beauty. 
External physical beauty is but a shadow. The 
reality is within. “ We look not at the things 
which are seen, but at the things which are not 
seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; 
but the things which are not seen are eter- 
nal.” The aged Christian has no occasion to 
mourn the decay of physical beauty, for he pos- 
sesses the substance of which this is but the fad- 
ing shadow. 

The decay of friendship is another source of 
grief to the aged. One after another the ties 
which bind the heart to kindred hearts have been 
sundered by death until the aged pilgrim stands 
almost alone in the world. The younger gen- 
eration has grown up about him and filled the 
places once occupied by his true and tried friends. 
Necessarily his history is but imperfectly known 
to his new neighbors, and his interests are to a 
great degree forgotten. The faces once familiar 


OTe RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


have disappeared from view, the voices so full of 
cheer exist only in his memory, and the hearts 
which once beat insympathy with his have ceased 
to throb.. The time for forming new associa- 
tions is past. He is left alone. It is this sense 
of loneliness that renders old age intolerable. 
The dread of this experience has led many to 
wish that they might die before reaching tlus 
period of life. 

But the Christian is never lonely. The pres- 
ence of “a Friend that sticketh closer than a 
brother ” is to him a sublime reality very full of 
comfort. ‘I will never leave thee nor forsake 
thee” is a promise made by God through the 
Bible to his saints, the truth of which thou- 
sands of them lave proved. This is one of the 
transcendently beautiful features of the Chris- 
tian religion. It teaches not only that God will 
hear prayer and provide for those who put their 
trust in him, but that he does abide with them 
and manifest his presence. This thought ap- 
pears to have puzzled one of the disciples of 
Christ, and drew from him this inquiry: “ Lord, 
how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, 
and not unto the world?” And Jesus made 
this significant answer: “If a man love me, 


Lond 


CONSOLATION IN OLp AGE. 3738 


he will keep my words: and my Father will love 
him, and we will come unto him, and make our 
abode with him.” The presence of God clearly 
manifested to the soul is a sure antidote for 
loneliness, an ample consolation in extreme old 
age. No soul can be lonely while assured of the 
presence of his heavenly Father, none can be 
unhappy while holding friendly communion 
with the Most High. 

“Should fate command me to the farthest verge 

Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes, 

Rivers unknown to song, where first the sun 

Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beams 

Flame on the Atlantic isles—’tis naught to me, 

Since God is ever present, ever felt, 


In the void waste, as in the city full; 
And where he vital breathes there must be joy.” 


This happy experience triumphs over the 
forbidding aspects of external surroundings, 
lighting up the dungeon till it becomes more 
beautiful than a palace and filling the wilderness 
with songs of gladness. It overcomes also the 
untoward features of every condition and every 
period of life. Though extreme age is a period 
of unutterable sadness to many because all 
earthly friendships have perished and no source 
of compensation has been discovered, yet the 


374 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


Christian advances to this period with a cheerful 
spirit because his best and truest Friend is by his 
side. 

The Gospel offers redemption and salvation 
to aged sinners who have wasted their lives in 
vice and wickedness. This doctrine, like other 
doctrines of grace, is liable to abuse, and has 
often been abused. Many have wrested it to 
their own destruction. Young men and middle- 
aged men have said within themselves, ‘Grace 
is free to all. We can repent and obtain par- 
don and salvation in the last hour. Therefore 
we will eat, drink, and be merry, for there is 
ample time for repentance.” But there is no 
true doctrine that has not been perverted and 
abused. We must not abandon a great truth 
because of its liability to abuse. It is a very 
wholesome truth that Christianity offers mercy 
and peace and hope and regeneration to aged 
sinners who have spent all their days in wicked 
practices. 

No other system makes any provision for the 
redemption of the ruined soul in oldage. What 
hope can philosophy or paganism or infidelity — 
offer to the aged man who has thrown away his 
life and now trembles on the verge of the tomb ? 


CoNSOLATION IN OLD AGE. 375 


None whatever. The ship that has escaped the 
storms and the rocks may ride safely into port, 
but the unfortunate vessel which has been over- 
taken by the tempest and dashed on the rocks 
and broken in pieces in the crash must go down. 
So it is with men. Those who have been pro- 
tected from the evils that are in the world may 
come down to old age with manly characters, 
respected by their neighbors and praised by all 
who know them. But the less fortunate mortals 
who have fallen into temptation in youth, and 
through years of intemperance, dishonesty, and 
corruption have come down to old age with 
ruined characters, tarnished reputations, and 
crushed spirits, have no hope. But the Gospel 
offers hope even to these, for Jesus “is able to 
save unto the uttermost all them that come unto 
God by him,” and he hath said, “Him that 
cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” 
Dean Swift once said, “‘ When men grow virt- 
uous in old age they are merely making a sacri- 
fice to God of the devil’s leavings.” There may 
be some wit but there is very little wisdom in 
that saying. It may be so in some cases, but 
not in all. Many an aged sinner has come to 
Christ when he had nowhere else to go, and 


376 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


found a welcome and a blessing. He has re- 
ceived the same sweet experiences of pardon, 
peace, and salvation which younger penitents 
have found. The love of God has been shed 
abroad in his heart; his sins, which were many, 
have all been forgiven; his heart, which was the 
hold of every unclean passion, has been cleansed 
and made the habitation of the Christian virtues. 
This is the glory of Christianity, that no case of 
depravity is beyond its reach. Its regenerating 
energy is commensurate with the resources of 
Omnipotence. It offers hope to the worst sinner 
and to the oldest sinner in the world. 

The decay of the mental faculties hastening 
the termination of useful employments is one of 
the chief ills incident to old age. This is much 
more to be dreaded than the decay of physical 
strength and beauty and the failure of earthly 
friendships. One may lose every other source 
of comfort, but so long as he can keep himself 
busily occupied and employ his thoughts about 
some useful work he may defy the menaces of 
gloom and melancholy. The virtues of Chris- 
tianity tend to prolong the period of mental 
vigor and activity and postpone the day when 
useful employments must be abandoned. We 


CONSOLATION IN Oxup Aan. 5 Hid 


can point to eminent examples of Christian 
statesmen, ministers, poets, and scientists, as 
well as others in less conspicuous positions, 
who down to extreme age have maintained their 
intellectual vivacity and pursued with success 
their chosen calling. Ovid points out the glory 
of the early days of Rome by declaring that 
age then commanded universal reverence be- 
cause of its superior wisdom. 


‘Time was when reverend years observance found, 
And silver hairs with honor’s meed were crowned; 
In those good days the venerably old 

In Rome’s sage synod stood alone enrolled. 
Experienced old she gave her laws to frame, 

And from the seniors rose the senate’s name,” 

This boast of the Roman bard has often been 
realized in Christian communities. In propor- 
tion as the precepts of Christianity are practiced 
the vigor and usefulness of men and women are 
preserved to advanced age. “ With long life 
will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.” 
This is the promise which the word of God 
makes to the man who puts his trust in Jehovah 
and keeps his commandments. Of the righteous 
it is written in the Book of Psalms: “ He shall 
grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be 
planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in 


378 _ “RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth 
fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.” 

Many there be who in their life-time bring 
forth no good fruits. The fruits of their lives 
are bitter and deadly, and their day is soon 
over; their time is shortened by their vices. ' 
Not so the true Christian. The results of his 
life are salutary. He brings forth fruits of 
righteousness, and his fruitfulness continues 
even down to old age. The best days of some 
men are the days of youth or young manhood, 
but the best days of the Christian are his last 
days. Not unfrequently these are his most use- 
ful days. At the time of life when many are 
laid aside because of failing strength he is found 
doing his best work. By his enlarged experi- 
ence, his superior wisdom acquired through long 
years of study and observation and devotion to 
God, by his example of a spotless life, by his 
spirit of charity, benevolence, kindness, and pa- 
tience, he wields a mightier influence than is pos- 
sible toany young man, whatever may be his gifts 
“They shall still bring forth fruit in old age.” 
No true Christian ever outlives his usefulness. 
And when the time shall come that Christianity 
shall prevail every-where, many obstacles which 


CONSOLATION IN Oxup AGE. 379 


now hinder the operation of this principle will 
be swept away, and there will be few excep- 
tions to the rule that “they shall still bring forth 
fruit in old age.” 

The complete assurance of the aged Christian 
based on experience is a blessing which younger 
people cannot possess in an equal degree. The 
young may hope and believe that God will care 
for them and keep them. They have good 
ground for this hope. They have the word of 
God, the testimony of those in whom they have 
confidence, and their own faith in the char- 
acter of God. But they have not yet tried and 
proved his promises in their own lives. The 
aged Christian knows that God has kept his 
word with him, and displayed his faithfulness 
and truth through many years. In times of 
trouble and affliction, in hours of temptation 
and darkness, he has proved the God in whom 
he has trusted, and he can say as Paul said con- 
cerning his trial in Rome when deserted by 
men, ‘“ Nevertheless the Lord stood by me.” 
This experience confirms his faith and elevates 
it into the plane of assurance. Others believe 
and hope; he knows. This is the peculiar priv- 
ilege of aged believers. 


380 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


There is a symmetry of character in an aged 
Christian which those who are younger seldom 
or never attain. Good men have their faults. 
Even Christian perfection, according to the stand- 
ard of Paul, does not abolish the natural and in- 
nocent infirmities which are common to men in 
this life; but the discipline of a Christian life 
removes many faults and flaws by which the 
character was marred. Here is one whose an- 
tipathy to wrong-doing bordered on severity 
and almost indicated a want of charity. He 
hated all forms of iniquity. This was a virtue. 
But it was sometimes displayed in an exagger- 
ated form, or with feelings and language which 
were too intense. Gradually this fault has been 
worn away by discipline. Frequent views of his 
own infirmities have increased his charity toward 
others. Clearer views of the divine patience and 
love have modified the intensity of his condem- 
nation. Thus prolonged study of the character of 
Christ, years of communion with God, protracted 
co-operation with God and good men in well- 
doing have eliminated troublesome and unseemly 
faults, and enlarged certain virtues which were 
once weak, and developed a character beautiful for 
symmetry, the peculiar treasure of aged saints. 


CONSOLATION IN Otp AGE. 381 


After all, the best thing that Christianity does 
for the aged is to furnish them with a good 
hope of immortality. The chief beauty of Cic 
ero’s essay on old age is the definite faith in a 
future state of existence to which he gives utter- 
ance. In all the range of non-Christian litera- 
ture perhaps there is no passage which expresses 
such a clear and confident hope of a future life. 
It must be conceded that men have arrived at 
the notion of immortality without the aid of a 
divine revelation. But their ideas of the future 
state are generally vague and indistinct, and 
supported by such insufficient grounds that they 
produce little or no good effect on the characters 
and lives of men. Their hope is so faint that 
they are properly said to be “ without hope.” 
Cicero certainly was not destitute of hope. If, 
however, he does not stand quite alone in this, 
he is the only pagan who has written with con- 
fidence concerning immortality. 

Even Cicero writes in a hesitating tone com- 
pared with the apostle to the Gentiles. Above 
all the voices that have been employed in speak- 
ing of the future -the voice of Jesus rises with 
clearest notes. So confident and unhesitating 
were his declarations, so marvelous was the as- 


382 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


surance with which he inspired his disciples, that 
it is written of him, “Jesus Christ hath abol- 
ished death, and hath brought life and immortal- 
ity to light through the Gospel.” 

This revelation of immortality is of the high- 
est importance. None of the discoveries of 
science are comparable with this. The discovery 
of America, the discovery of the planetary sys- 
tem, the discovery of the circulation of the 
blood, the discovery of the power of steam and 
of. electricity have added much to the knowl- 
edge, the improvement, and the happiness of the 
race. They have enlarged the field of our vision 
and increased the importance and _ effectiveness 
of our activities. But the discovery of immor- 
tality has enlarged the field of our vision more 
than all, and augmented the importance of our 
existence beyond any thing that other revelations 
have accomplished. Instead of living for this 
world we may now live for eternity. 

And what comfort does this doctrine impart 
to old age, and how wonderfully does it drive 
away the evils which attend this period of human 
existence! The aged Christian is no nearer to 
the end of life than he was when he entered on 
his earthly career, no nearer than his neighbors 


CONSOLATION IN OLp AGE. 383 


who have not lived so long as he. Looking 
backward he sees that the worst part of his 
journey is over. He has done with the strife 
and struggle of business. Others may labor to 
lay up treasures on earth, he has no further need 
of them. Others may toil to support their 
bodies, he has reached the limit where the body 
is no longer needful. Others may work hard to- 
support their families, his family has grown up 
and become self-supporting. He has not. Jost 
his interest in this world, but has finished his 
work, 

Looking forward he sees the best part of his 
journey before him. He is not throngh with 
work and thought, but now and hereafter his 
thought and work are to be devoted to the things 
of eternity and notof time. He is not sad when. 
he sees the world fading from his view, for 
another and better world is at hand. He does 
not regret the fact that the pleasures of this life 
have come to an end, for the joys of a better life 
are just beginning. He is not unwilling to 
depart from this world in which sickness and 
pain and sin and infirmities prevail and hamper 
the soul; he is not reluctant to lose this life 
which comes forth as the morning and in a brief 


384 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


period sinks away amid the shadows of evening, 
for he is about to enter on a state of existence far 
more congenial to his spirit. Most of those 
whom he has known in this world have crossed 
that stream to the margin of which he has come. 
He will not be so much of a stranger in heaven 
as he is on earth. His chief joy on earth has 
been found in communion with God, and God 
will be nearer to him and more easily accessible 
and better known after death than he is now. 
His existence thus far has been a series of 
developments. Before his birth he had an 
existence, but his mind and body were in a crude 
state. At birth a great change occurred, but it 
was a change for the better. His life at once 
became larger and his powers more active. He 
began to grow in body and mind. His strength 
and knowledge increased from day to day. 
Another important change occurred when he 
became a man. The change was gradual but 
marked—another change for the better. He 
laid aside childish books and toys and words and 
sports and experiences, and entered on a new 
and higher life. Paul utters his experience in 
writing to the Corinthians: ‘ When I was a 
child, I spake as a child, [understood as a child, 


CONSOLATION IN OLD AGE. 385 


I thought as a child: but when I became a 
man, I put away childish things.” The man is 
larger than the child. 

Confronting the aged Christian {s another 
change. The Gospel has tanght him that this, 
too, is an important stage in the development of 
the soul. He is to enter upon a state of exist- 
ence at least as much superior to that he now 
enjoys as manhood is superior to childhood. 
He is about to lay aside his earthly studies and 
thoughts and employments and pleasures and 
begin to think higher thoughts, to speak a 
nobler language, to engage in grander pursuits, 
and 

“The light of that better life resteth at noon.” 

Arséne Houssaye, a celebrated French author, 
says that on a certain occasion when infidel sen- 
timents were uttered by a guest at the table of 
Victor Hugo, who was then an old man, his eye 
kindled with unwonted brilliancy, and with great 
confidence he spoke these words: “I feel in 
myself the future life. I am like a forest which 
has been more than once eut down. The new 
shoots are stronger and livelier than ever. I 
am rising, I know, toward the sky. The sun- 


shine is on my head. The earth gives me its 
25 


386 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


generous sap, but heaven lights me with the re- 
flection of unknown worlds. You say the soul 
is nothing but the resultant of bodily powers. 
Why, then, is my soul the more luminous when 
my bodily powers begin to fail? Winter is on 
my head, and eternal spring is in my heart. The 
more I approach the end the plainer I ‘hear 
around me the immortal symphonies of the 
worlds which invite me. It is marvelous, yct 
simple. It is a fairy tale, and it is history. 
For half a century I have been writing my 
thoughts in prose and verse; history, philoso- 
phy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and 
song—I have tried all. But I feel I have not 
said a thousandth part of what is in me. When 
I go down to the grave I can say like so many 
others, ‘I have finished my day’s work, but I 
cannot say, ‘I have finished my life.’ My day’s 
work will begin again the next morning. The 
tomb is not a blind alley; it 1s a thoroughfare. 
It closes on the twilight to open with the dawn.” 


THE Conqueror or Duaru. 387 


CTA Terie x LL. 


THE CONQUEROR OF DEATH. 


Aut paths by mortals trod converge and meet 


at the grave. Death comes alike to all, what- 


ever interests and conditions may divide us in 


life. 


‘The glories of our birth and state 
Are shadows, not substantial things ; 
There is no armor against fate: 
Death lays his icy hands on kings; 
Scepter and crown 
Must tumble down, 
And in the dust be equal made 
With the poor crooked scythe and spade, 


‘The garlands wither on your brow; 
Then boast no more your mighty deeds; 
Upon death’s purple altar, now, 
See where the victor victim bleeds! 
All heads must come 
To the cold tomb: 
Oniy the actions of the just 
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.” 


Hence all are alike*interested in the perplex- 
ing problem of death. Whatever throws a ray 


388 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


of light on the darkness of the tomb fixes the 
attention of intelligent men and challenges the 
respect of all. Whatever is peculiar in the 
death of any one awakens curiosity. The deed 
by which the suicide ends his days is always 
closely studied because it indicates an unnatural 
condition of the mind. Death is a test by 
which men are known, and when one volun- 
tarily rushes into the arms of death he is marked 
as a peculiar specimen of the race. The courage 
displayed by martyrs and heroes who for a prin- 
ciple voluntarily lay down their lives is strangely 
fascinating to ordinary mortals. “All that a 
man hath will he give for his life.” This is the 
proposition which Satan lays down in his argu- 
ment against the integrity of the patriarch Job. 
In most cases it holds, but not in all. When we 
find one who wiil cheerfully give up his life for 
some object we are sure that there is something 
remarkable in the object or somewhat excep- 
tional in the man himself. 

Most men look on death with horror. When 
any one ceases to dread death it is not because 
death has ceased to be dreadful, but because he 
has found an antidote for its terrors. This 
horror of death is to some degree an instinctive 


Tur Conqueror or Deraru. 389 


feeling implanted in the bosom of man by the 
Creator for the protection of human life. The 
beasts of the field share this experience with the 
human race. Without the powers of reason and 
conscience, the peculiar endowments of human. 
ity, the lower animals shrink from death and 
fight against it with all the energy they possess. 
So deeply is this instinct rooted in their nature 
that suicide is almost unknown among thein. 
The dog or the horse will endure any degree of 
ill treatment, of pain and agony, but will not 
seek relief in self-destruction. This instinctive 
dread of death is one of the principal safeguards 
of life both in man and beast. 

Many causes conspire to intensify this horror. 
Among these the alarming agencies by which 
death is introduced, the repulsive aspect of the 
cold grave, the termination of earthly enterprises, 
and separation from friends play a conspicuous 
part. 

The mystery connected with death is another 
forbidding element. What is death 2 Many 
sages have puzzled their wits over this question. 
Some have ventured to give a definition of 
death, but they have made the matter no plainer. 
Their definitions are as difficult to understand as 


390 - RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


the subject they sought to explain. Bishop But- 
ler says: “ We know not at all what death is in 
itself, but only some of its effects, such as the 
dissolution of flesh, skin, and bones.” Whether 
we witness all the effects of death or not is a 
serious question. We cannot but wonder what 
other effects there may be which elude our pow- 
ers. The painful uncertainty as to the future 
affrights the soul as it gazes upon death and 
studies the dark problem. 
“To die; to sleep— 
To sleep? perchance to dream; ay, there’s the rub; 
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 


When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
Must give us pause.” 


The world has made great advancement in 
learning. Many mysteries have been solved, and 
the horizon that bounds the knowledge of man 
has been pushed back. But the solution of the 
problem of death by human ingenuity is no 
nearer now than it was a thousand years ago. 
Apart from revelation the ignorant and bar- 
barous know about as much concerning death as 
the scientist and sage. The mystery would not 
much disturb us if it did not lie full in our own 
way. We are all tending in that direction. The 


Ture Conqueror or Deraru. 391 


millions of our fellow-men who have preceded 
us have plunged into that darkness and been 
lost, and we are treading in their footsteps. 
Into that impenetrable gloom we must enter 
soon. The mystery staggers us because our 
pathway leads into it. | 

According to the Christian revelation sin is 
the chief cause of man’s fear of death. ‘The 
sting of death is sin,” says Panl. Pagan religion 
and philosophy acknowledged the fact of sin, 
but made little account of the doctrine of sin as 
a regenerating force. The future consequences 
of sin, if they were ever thought of, certainly 
were never urged as a motive to repentance and 
reformation. [For this reason the knowledge 
and conviction of sin never intensified the ter- 
rors of death among pagans as they have done 
where Christian teachings prevail. Yet even 
among pagans sin had much to do with the hor- 
ror with which death was contemplated. Sin is 
a painful fact the world over. Men may make 
light of it in their creeds and in their conver- 
sation, but they cannot wholly banish the dread- 
ful consciousness of guilt. At no time does that 
consciousness assert itself so vehemently as in 
the presence of death. There is in the human 


392 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


mind a natural apprehension that death intro- 
duces man into the presence of spirits invisible 
to mortal eyes and of God, who takes account 
of human conduct and holds in his hand the 
destiny of his creatures. Thus the dread of 
death, even among pagans, arose, in large meas- 
ure, from sin. 

That Christian teaching placed such emphasis 
on the doctrine of sin as to arm death with still 
greater terror may not be considered creditable 
to this system at first, but when the ease is fully 
presented a different verdict will be rendered. 
It must be confessed that the doctrines of the 
Roman Catholic Church concerning sin and the 
future state are not the most wholesome, but 
there is a wide difference between the doctrines 
of Christianity and those of certain branches of 
the Christian Church. The doctrine of purga- 
tory, which maintains that saints as well as sin- 
ners must be purified by suffering after death, is 
an invention of priests by which they exercise 
control over the people very much as some par- 
ents govern their children by frightening them 
with ghosts and hobgoblins and darkness. This | 
and kindred superstitions have marred the 
beauty of the pure Christian faith and robbed 


Tur Conqureror OF DEATH. 393 


good men of the divine consolations in view of 
death which it is the mission of the Gospel to 
furnish. 

The sting of death remains when these exag- 
gerations and misinterpretations of the truth 
have been eliminated. Some have thought to in- 
crease the influence of Christianity for good by 
going to the opposite extreme and teaching that 
there is no future punishment for sin, but that 
both the just and the unjust go straight through 
the gates of death to the fields of glory. Others 
still, anxious to make Christianity stand as fair 
as possible in the eyes of wise men, have ad- 
initted that Christ teaches that the ungodly 
must suffer in the future for their sins, but have 
stoutly contended that this suffering is limited to 
a comparatively brief period, and that all shall, 
sooner or later, escape to the realms of endless 
‘bliss. This doctrine is similar to that of purga- 
tory in- being destitute of the support of any 
fragment of the word of God. It is another 
misrepresentation and caricature, and only calcu- 
lated to diminish the force of Scripture teach- 
ings for the sake of accommodating them to the 
notions of men and the views of the ungodly. 
If this doctrine were true it would be difficult 


394 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


to understand in what sense sin is the sting of 
death. The Bible admonishes us that it were 
better for one never to have been born than to 
die impenitent. But if a soul shall escape from 
the torments of hell after millions of years of 
pain and enter heaven to be happy through- 
out eternity it could not be said with truth 
that it were better for him not to have been 
born. | 

The sting of death is sin because sin unre- 
pented and unpardoned dooms its victim to end- 
less woe. The righteous are exempt from this 
fate, as will presently appear. The hour of 
death is the time of final and irreversible deter- 
mination of the future state of men. To all 
those who have enjoyed the advantages of gos- 
pel teaching this is clear, and there must be a 
dim apprehension of this great fact in the heart 
of the most ignorant pagan sitting in the re- 
gion and shadow of death. For there is a light 
which lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world. 

These are some of the sources of the terror 
of death. So dreadful are the experiences of 
men as they contemplate the ravages of death 
among their neighbors and kindred, and espe- 


Tue Conqueror OF DEATH. 395 


cially as they approach this supreme crisis of 
human existence, that death has been fitly styled 
the King of Terrors. 

We sce onevery side the efforts men are mak- 
ing to rid themselves and their neighbors of the 
fear of death. History informs us that from 
the remotest antiquity and among all nations 
remedies for the horror which death awakens 
have been diligently sought. 

Some have stubbornly refused to think of 
death. This, perhaps, is the most common method 
of dismissing the painful experience. It is not 
an easy matter to turn the mind away from an 
event of such importance, but it has been at- 
tempted with surprising success. The historian 
of the French Revolution tells of a duke of 
Orleans who affected to believe that there was 
nosuch thing as death, who systematically av oided 
every circumstance that would impress his mind 
with the reality of death, and forbade his serv- 
ants to men‘ion it in his presence. One day a 
servant reading to the duke came suddenly on 
the word and pronounced it aloud before he had 
time to remind himself of his master’s com- 
mands. “ What does that mean?” inquired the 
duke. “It is only a title which certain kings 


396 RELIGION FoR THE TiMEs. 


used to assume,” responded the obsequious 
servant. This seems exceedingly foolish. No 
great good could come of it, since, hide from the 
word and thought as he might, the awful reality 
of death must rush down suddenly on him at 
last and sweep away his refuge of lies as with a 
tempest. 

We are told of a nobleman who gave strict 
orders to his servants that no mention of death 
should ever be made in the presence of his chil- 
dren, and that no book or paper should be allowed 
to fall into their hands until it had first been ex- 
amined and every line and word from which any 
idea of death could be derived had been erased. 
His purpose was to bring up his children free 
from the terrors which thoughts of death pro- 
duce. Doubtless the minds of many children 
are injured by injudicious and pernicious con- 
versations on the subject of death. But the 
remedy is not found in shutting out from them 
utterly all mention of the most solemn event in 
their own personal history. 

The young, the careless, the gay and worldly 
so often find thoughts of death uncomfortable 
that they contrive to dismiss them from their 
minds. They refuse to read books which remind 


Tur ConQuEROR OF DEATH. 397 


them of their mortality, or to attend church 
where the future world is a conspicuous topic of 
discourse, or to be present on funeral occasions 
when they must needs stand face to face with 
death, or to listen to conversations in which the 
subject is discussed. But, crowding their minds 
with thonghts of business and pleasure, they 
leave no room for more serious meditations to 
intrude. In this way they do for a time escape 
the fear of death. This plan works well while 
health holds out, and sometimes through pro- 
tracted sickness men steadily push aside the sub- 
ject of death. But under such discipline one 
secures the worst possible preparation for death. 
Thoughts of death may be excluded, but death 
itself cannot be evaded. And when the time to 
die draws near the soul that has seldom thought 
of death is totally unprepared to grapple with 
the monster. He has no armor in which he 
can trust, and knows not where to look for 
succor. 

Others familiarize themselves with the thought 
and prospect of death in order that they may 
not be surprised nor confounded when called to 
die. This was the method recommended by 
certain philosophers and pursued by many of 


398 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


their disciples. Writing of death Montaigne 
says: “Let us disarm him of his strangeness ; _ 
let us converse and be familiar with him, and 
have nothing so frequent in our thoughts as 
death ; let us upon all occasions represent him in 
all his most dreadful shapes to our imagination. 
At the stumbling of a horse, at the falling of a 
tile, at the least prick of a pin, let us presently 
consider and say to ourselves, ‘ Well, and what 
if it had been death itself?’ And thereupon let 
us encourage and fortify ourselves; let us ever- 
more, amidst our jollity and feasting, keep the 
remembrance of our frail condition before our 
eyes, never suffering ourselves to be so far 
transported with our delights but that we have 
some intervals of reflecting upon and considering 
how many several ways this jollity of ours tends 
to death and with how many traps it threatens 
us.” ‘This writer protests that he himself had 
adopted this antidote against the fear of death 
with the most satisfactory results. “I am in 


; says he, ‘“‘not melancholy, but 


my own nature,’ 
thoughtful, and there is nothing I have more 
continually entertained myself withal than the 
imagination of death even in the gayest and most 


wanton time of my life.’ Montaigne professed 


Tue ConQuEROoR OF DEATH. 399 


himself to be ready at any moment to dislodge, 
and assured himself that death could bring no 
terrors ‘which he had not already anticipated. 

It was for this purpose that the ancient Egyp- 
tians, in the height of their feasting and mirth, 
~+were wont to cause a human skeleton to be pro- 
duced, that the guests might be reminded of 
their own mortality. This curious custom was 
a means adopted by these ancient people to drive 
away the dread of death by familiarizing them- 
selves with the ghastly reflection at such times 
as they were most disposed to forget the grave 
whither they were journeying. Many ancient 
and modern philosophers have adopted similar 
tacties in their warfare against death. It has this 
merit, that it requires a high degree of courage 
to pursue it, and it is attended with moderate 
suceess. Not a few persons in our own as well 
as in former times have succeeded in hardening 
their hearts by this process so as to be able to 
confront death, saying, “ We do not fear to die.” 
But this plan has serious disadvantages. It is 
not a real preparation for death, but rather a 
crucifying of the natural feelings and a perver- 
sion of the mind. The constant references to 
death which these philosophers have required 


400 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES, 


of themselves have forced it into an unnat- 
ural prominence, “and somewhat discolored the 
whole view of life.’ Lord Bacon says, “ The 
Stoics bestowed too much cost on death, and by 
their preparation made it more fearful.” The 
contemplation of death here referred to is not a 
means of self-improvement, but rather an artifice 
by which one who dreads death seeks to cheat 
his own mind with reference to its nature and 
consequences, 

Various euphemisms have been resorted to 
by men in order to rob death of some of its bit- 
terness. The Romans were accustomed to speak 
of a dead person as ‘one who has lived,” or to 
say of him, “ He has ceased to live,” instead of 
squarely announcing the fact of his death. The 
object of this style of language is to soften the 
thought of death by substituting for the mention 
of it the term life accompanied by a negative 
expression. We have similar forms of speech, 
and have been moved to invent them by similar 
feelings. We speak of the late Mr. So and So 
in order to break the force of the thought that 
he is dead. 

Another artifice resorted to is to disengage 
the affections from the affairs and relationships 


Tue ConQuEROR OF DEATH. 401 


of this world so as to avoid the pain of separa- 
tion when death shall come. This plan is only 
practicable in a limited number of cases, and can 
never be effectual as a remedy except in a very 
slight degree. 

Let us turn to the effects of Christianity on 
the mind in view of death. The Christian view 
of death and of the future state, and the change 
of heart which Christianity proclaims and_pro- 
duces, have done more to rob death of its sting 
and prepare men to depart from this life in 
peace than all other means combined. If the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ had achieved no other 
good in the world it is deserving of the confi- 
dence and respect of all intelligent men because 
of the part it has taken in the great battle of hu- 
manity witli death and the grave. 

Note, then, the light which Christianity throws 
on this mysterious subject. According to our 
Gospel death is not annihilation or destruction. 
It is a change, a departure from this world 
into another, a separation between soul and 
body. There is no consolation in this idea of 
death for the ungodly, but there is unspeakable 
comfort in it for the righteous. Ancient philos- 


ophers and many modern thinkers teach that all 
26 


402 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


pain and sorrow cease with death in all cases, 
and they, intend this doctrine to comfort all — 
alike, both good and bad. But this is not the 
Christian doctrine. Only the righteous are freed 
from sorrow by the messenger of death. The 
wicked enter at death on a state of existence in 
which their sorrows shall be multiplied and their 
hope extinguished. This doctrine is despised by 
many. But, whatever may be claimed for other 
notions of sin and its consequences, this doctrine 
of future punishment has proved one of the most 
potent motives to repentance ever yet found. 
Much has been said about the power of virtue 
and love to win men to holiness, but multiplied 
thousands who could not be restrained from vice 
by the attractiveness of virtue have been con- 
strained to repent and forsake sin by the fear of 
the future to which death introduces the soul. 
Christ delivers his followers from the fear of 
death. “That through death he might destroy 
him that had the power of death, that is, the 
devil; and deliver them, who through fear of 
death were all their life-time subject to bondage.” 
By going down into the valley of death himself, 
remaining there for a season, and then returning 
to the earth unharmed and glorified, he showed 


THE ConQuEROR OF DEATH. 408 


the impotence of death over him and also over 
his followers. He is represented in Revela- 
tion as proclaiming, “I am he that liveth, and 
was dead ; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, 
Amen ; and have the keys of hell and of death.” 
And in another place it is written, “Jesus 
Christ hath abolished death, and hath brought life 
and immortality to light through the Gospel.” 
He has made such a change in the aspect of 
death, both by his doctrines and his resurrection, 
that death is said to be abolished. This is vig- 
orous language, but the subject demands it, and 
no other will suffice. There is no more death, 
such as appeared to the ancients and such as men 
in non-Christian lands must encounter. The 
notions of pagan teachers concerning a future 
state were so vague and uncertain that, they ex- 
ercised little influence over the minds of the 
people. They had scarcely any fear of punish- 
ment for sin and almost no hope of reward for 
virtue. But Jesus Christ tanght as one having 
authority on this subject. He spake of the fut- 
ure as never man spake. Without any hesita- 
tion he uttered his doctrines concerning the 
many mansions, on the one hand, and the fire that 
never shall be quenched, on the other. He not 


404 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


only declared that he had come forth from the 
Father, but his teachings clearly indicated that 
he was in possession of knowledge concerning 
the future world such as no mere mortal ever 
pretended to have. When we add to his clear 
and strong sayings concerning the future state 
the supreme fact of h's resurrection from the 
dead we see clearly what is meant by the decla- 
ration that he “brought life and immortality to 
light.” Connect with these facts concerning his 
life and death and resurrection his promise of 
final victory over the grave by a future general 
resurrection of all men, and we can understand 
‘the meaning of the phrase “hath abolished 
death.” 

But Jesus Christ did more... He not only ban- 
ished the fears of his disciples by his doctrines 
and miracles, but by the redemption which he 
wrought out for humanity by his death. “ He 
tasted death for every man.” He died for us, 
“the just for the unjust, that he might bring us 
to God.” “Whom God hath set forth to be a 
propitiation through faith in his blood, to de- 
clare his righteousness for the remission of sins 
that are past, through the forbearance of God; 
that he might be just, and the justifier of him 


Tue Conqueror oF DEATH. 405 


which believeth in Jesus.” Sin is the sting of 
death. Christ made provision, through his 
death, for the pardon of sin and the justification 
of the penitent sinner. Whoever comes to God 
through Christ has no cause to fear death, be- 
eause his sins are blotted out and peace has been 
made between him and God. He is not afraid 
to meet God. 

Nor is this quite all. By imparting to his 
disciples a spiritual life Jesus Christ overcomes 
the fear of death in them. It is not merely bya 
ereed that death is disarmed, but more especially 
by an inward experience. A new heart is cre- 
ated in the follower of Christ by a new birth. 
He passes from death unto life. Men dread 
death chiefly because they are spiritually dead— 
“dead in {respasses and sins.” But the Spirit 
of Christ is sent forth into the heart to quicken 
there a new life. The love of sin, the taste for 
sin, the desire for sin, are crucified ; the power 
of sin is destroyed by the indwelling Spirit, and 
the love of God, the love of virtue, the desire 
for holiness, a hunger and thirst for righteous- 
ness, are awakened. “Old things are passed away ; 
; 


behold, all things are become new.” Being risen 


with Christ, the regenerated soul seeks those 


406 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


things which are above, where Christ sitteth on 
the right hand of God. He is not afraid to die, 
because Christ liveth in him, and his life is hid 
with Christ in God. 

This is the effectual antidote to the fear of 
death. This is the secret of dying well. A 
deep religious experience is worth all the creeds 
and all the systems of philosophy under the sun. 
Cicero taught that to study philosophy is to 
learn to die, but Christians have learned that to 
abide in Christ is to learn to die. Experimental 
religion is a mystery to the philosopher. The 
ungodly and the selfish sneer at the thought. 
Corrupt forms of Christianity have banished ex- 
perimental religion as far as possible. The Ro- 
man Catholic Chureh teaches that Christians are 
to derive their hope and comfort from the sacra- 
ments and the word of the priest, and not from 
their inward experiences and the word of God. 
Men are not to know for themselves that their 
sins are pardoned, but they must take the certifi- 
cate of the priest as their ground of assurance. 
They are not to know from inward experience 
that they are prepared to die, but trust the prel- 
ate on whose head holy hands have been laid to 
be present in artzculo mort/s and administer 


THE CoNQuUEROR OF DEATH. 407 


extreme unction to prepare them, not for para- 
dise, but for purgatory. This sort of preparation 
for death has not one word of Scripture warrant, 
and partakes more of the pagan than the Chris- 
tian system. 

It is unfortunate that Christianity should be 
credited with all the superstitions and abomina- 
tions which are practiced in her name. These 
are the barriers which impede her progress, the 
spots that mar her beauty and give to her ene- 
mies occasion to blaspheme. In opposition to 
this perverted Christianity we exalt the doctrine 
of a genuine Christian experience, an inward as- 
surance communicated by the Spirit of God to 
the spirit of man that his sins are pardoned and 
that his name is written in heaven. Whiy should 
it be thought a thing incredible that God should 
impart to a human soul the knowledge of his 
love and forgiveness? Does not the Spirit of 
God persuade every ungodly sinner that his 
heart is not right? Is there not a conviction 
of guilt, a sense of condemnation in the heart 
of every impenitent sinner? What is that 
but the Spirit of God bearing witness with 
his spirit that the wrath of God is resting on 
him? If God can produce in the heart con- 


408 RELIGION FOR THE TIMEs. 


viction of sin can he not also produce in the 
same heart after repentance conviction of right- 
eousness? If God can show his wrath can he 
not show his love? If he can write our con- 
demnation on our consciences can he not also 
write our justification? The Bible teaches us 
that he can. “The Spirit itself beareth witness 
with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” 
This blessed assurance removes the sting of death, 
and causes the soul about to be ushered into the 
presence of God to rejoice with exceeding great 
joy. 

The fear of death may indeed be overcome by 
other means. As has already been intimated, 
ancient philosophers who held the thought of 
death before their minds continually in order to 
familiarize themselves with it succeeded in con- 
quering the dread of death. Many of them 
went down into the grave without a murmur or 
a tremor. Others have accomplished the same 
end by a life of reckless sinfulness. Culprits 
who have expiated their crimes on the gallows 
have hardened their hearts in sin until they 
were able to laugh at death and perpetrate jests 
while preparations for their execution were going 
on before their eyes. Recently a prominent leader 


Tur ConQuEROR OF DEATH. 409 


in French politics committed suicide by the grave 
of a woman with whom he had lived in sinful 
alliance. His self-murder was perpetrated in 
the most deliberate manner. The day before 
the deed was done he wrote a letter concerning 
the plan he had formed and the life he had 
lived. Guilty of the gravest crimes against 
society and the State, he declared that he had 
nothing to regret and nothing to fear. The 
secret of this bad man’s stolid indifference was 
found in one expression which the letter con- 
tained. It was this: “Ishall return to nothing- 
ness.” Atheists who have no God and no hope 
often learn to scorn death in sheer despair. 

No little harm has been done by Christian min- 
isters in representing the death-beds of all Chris- 
tians as scenes of triumph and those of all others 
as scenes of woeand despair. Itisnotso. Thou-— 
sands of men who have defied God and blas- 
phemed his name and dishonored his Son have 
died apparently without a pang of remorse or a 
fearful foreboding. But there is an infinite dif- 
ference between these departures from earth 
and those of men who truly fear God and follow 
Christ. 

The disciples of Christ die in peace. “The 


410 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


end of that man is peace.” There is a differ- 
ence between stolid indifference and peace. In 
one case the spiritual desires and higher sensi- 
bilities of the soul are dead, in the other they 
are in lively exercise. All the faculties of the 
mind, all the affections of the heart, are awake 
and active, but they move in harmony with each 
other and with the spirit of God. 


“Sure the last end 
Of the good man is peace! How calm his exit! 
Night-dews fall not more gently to the ground, 
Nor weary, worn-out winds expire so soft. 
Behold him in the eveuing-tide of life, 
A life well spent, whose early care it was 
His riper years should not upbraid his green ; 
By unperceived degrees he wears away, 
Yet, like the sun, seems largest at the setting.” 


Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler writes of a soldier 
who, having been mortally wounded in battle, 
was approached by an officer who inquired 
whether he could do any thing for him. “No, 
thank you,” said the soldier, “Iam dying.” “Is 
there nothing I can do?” said the officer. ‘ Shall 
I write a letter to your friends?” “I have no 
friends that you can write to,” was the brave 
man’s reply. “ But there is one thing I should 
be much obliged to you for. In my knapsack 


Tue Conqueror oF DEATH. 411 


you will find a Testament. Open it at the 
fourteenth chapter of John, and near the end 
you will find a verse that begins with the word 
‘Peace ;’ please read it.” The officer found the 
book, turned to the passage, and read: “ Peace I 
leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not 
as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not 
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” 
“Thank you,” said the dying man, “I have got 
that peace.” Can there be any thing more sub- 
lime—amid the smoke and roar of battle, the 
life-current flowing swiftly from a ghastly wound, 
a mortal in the bodily agony of a horrible death, 
with a soul as calm and serene as a May morn- 
ing, exclaiming, “ I have that peace?” 

The Christian is supported in death by a good 
hope. “The righteous hath life in his death.” 
“That we might have a strong consolation, 
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the 
hope set before us: which hope we have as 
an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” 
“We have access by faith into this grace 
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the 
glory of God. And hope maketh not ashamed ; 
because the love of God is shed abroad in our 
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto 


412 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


1S.¢ 


This hope has not disappointed the fol- 
lowers of Christ in the last hour. When Paul 
came to the close of his remarkable career, and 
lay in prison awaiting his execution, he wrote: 
“T am now ready to be offered, and the time of 
my departure is at hand. Henceforth there is 
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that 


” So well founded was the hope which the 


day. 
apostle found in Christ that he spoke of the fut- 
ure as a certainty, with as much assurance and 
far more comfort than one ean speak of the 
dawning of the morrow. [lis words contrast 
strangely with the hesitating language used by 
pagan philosophers in reference to the same 
subject: “For we know that, if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have 
a building of God, a house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens.” Jesus spake with sim- 
ilar assurance: “ Let not your heart be troubled: 
ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my 
Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not 
so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a 
place for you. And if I goand prepare a place 
for you, I will come again, and receive you unto 
myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” 


Tur ConQquEROoR or DEATH, 413 


No such confident language concerning the 
future state can be found in non-Christian liter- 
ature. These declarations are made by men who 
speak by authority. Jesus Christ announced 
that he had come forth from God, that he ex- 
isted before Abraham, and that he and the 
Father were one. He demonstrated the justice 
of this exalted clain by his resurrection from 
the dead. Tle spake as one having authority, 
and his message concerning the future life sets 
that question at rest in the minds of those who 
believe on him. Their “hope is as an anchor of 
the soul, both sure and steadfast.” Their inward 
experience corresponds so exactly with the prom- 
ises of the Scripture that no room is left for 
doubt. When they repented and trusted in 
Christ they found that new heart and new life 
which the Bible promised. When they encoun- 
tered temptations and afflictions they found that 
inward comfort and aid for which the word of 
God taught them to look. In self-denial and 
cross-bearing for Christ’s sake they experienced 
that enlargement and enrichment of spirit of 
which Jesus spake. Standing now on the brink 
of the. river of death, their souls are lifted up, 
their fears are dispelled, and their confidence is 


414 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


confirmed by a mysterious interposition which 
they have a right to aseribe to him whom they 
have served. 

God is with them ina peculiar sense. The 
psalmist wrote, “ Yea, though I walk through 
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no 
evil: for thou art with me.” God, who is every- 
where, manifests his presence with his people in 
aspecial way. At death we reach the boundary- 
line which separates this world from that which 
lies beyond. There the visible and invisible 
meet, and God comes nearer to his own than at any 
other time. There his frown is more dreadful to 
the wicked than it had ever been before. The 
presence of God with his people comforts and 
strengthens them in death as the presence of 
the shepherd encourages his flock amid the 
shadows of a dark valley. 

But is the presence of God with Christians in 
the hour of death a reality or a mere faney ere- 
ated by certain scriptural declarations and a 
superstitious imagination? This is an impor- 
tant question. The manifestation of God to the 
human soul is a mystery which sensual men, and 
men who refuse to believe any thing which they 
cannot prove and fail to recognize what the 


THE CONQUEROR OF DEATH. 415, 


reason cannot comprehend, look on with suspi- 
cion. Even Solomon, at the dedication of the 
temple, contemplating the majesty of Jehovah, 
exclaimed, “ But will God indeed dwell on the 
earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heay- 
ens cannot contain thee.” This high and holy 
One who inhabited eternity has promised to 
dwell also with him that is contrite in heart. 
We cannot prove that he fulfills this promise in 
the same way as we demonstrate a proposition in 
geometry. No one can recognize his presence 
as we recognize the presence of an earthly friend. 
We look not alone on the things which are seen, 
but also on things which are not seen. Things 
not seen are as plain and clear to those to whom 
spiritual sight has been imparted by the Holy 
Ghost as things seen. ‘“ Eye hath not seen, nor 
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
man, the things which God hath prepared for 
them that love him. But God hath revealed them 
unto us by his Spirit.” “Blessed are the pure 
in heart, for they shall see God.” God is able 
to make his presence known and felt by those 
whose hearts are in harmony with him. The 
presence of God with the dying believer is no 
fancy. 


416 RELIGION FOR THE TIMz&s. 


The dying Christian is assured also of a future 
resurrection. This is not the place to attempt a 
proof of the doctrine of the resurrection. It is 
assumed, as all otler Scripture doctrines are, in 
this work. Some object to this doctrine on the 
ground that a resurrection of the body is not 
desirable. They think that the prospect of a re- 
union between the soul and the body could add 
nothing to the comfort of the dying. They hold 
that death is a welcome deliverance from this 
cumbersome habitation of the spirit, and the 
thought that we are forever free from its tram- 
mels is to be cherished. This would be true if 
the body were to be raised and restored to what 
it now is. This body, through which nearly all 
our temptations have invaded us, the nerves of 
which have produced much of our pain, the 
limitations of which have fettered our spirits 
during all our years and which has been the in- 
strument of nearly all our sins, is an object of 
loathing from which we rejoice to be emanci- 
pated even by the sharp pangs of death. We 
shall never more see this body asit nowis. The 
body that shall be will be so different as not 
even to remind us, except by contrast, of the 
disagreeable association of soul and body here. 


Tue ConquERoR OF DEATH. 417 


The mighty change is depicted by the apostle in 
an epistle to the Corinthians: ‘‘ All flesh is not 
the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of 
men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and 
another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, 
and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celes- 
tial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is 
another. There is one glory of the sun, and 
another glory of the moon, and another glory of 
the stars; for one star differeth from another star 
in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. 
It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incor- 
ruption: it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in 
glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in 
power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a 
spiritual body.” ; 

This body of flesh and blood and corruption 
cannot inherit the kingdom of God, but the 
spiritual body, the glorified body adapted to the 

conditions of a spiritual and heavenly life, shall 
enter paradise to share the bliss of eternal, life 
with the glorified spirit. Only when the bodies 
that have died shall be raised, spiritualized, and 
glorified can it be said that death is abolished and 
Christ’s victory complete. ‘“ When this cor- 


ruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this 
27 


418 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall 
be brought to pass the saying ee is written, 
Death is swallowed up in victory.” 

There is a striking contrast haben the lan- 
guage of the Bible and Christian literature con- 
cerning death and all other writings. The dead 
in Christ are not spoken of as objects of commis- 
eration, but rather of felicitation. ‘“ Blessed are 
the dead which die in the Lord.” “They rest 
from their labors, and their works do follow 
them.” “I am in a strait betwixt two,” says 
the apostle, “having a desire to depart, and to 
be with Christ; which is far better.” ‘For to 
me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” 

It would be wrong to leave the impression 
that all Christians die in the enjoyment of rapt- 
urous experiences. This is not the case. Many 

* The literal resurrection of the identical body which is 
buried in the grave has been seriously doubted by some devout 
Christian thinkers. In an admirable treatise entitled Beyond 
the Grave, Bishop Foster contends with characteristic force 
of reasoning against the resurrection of the buried body. He 
holds that this view is not supported by reason nor required 
by Scripture. He maintains that a spiritual body shall be pro- 
vided for the redeemed and glorified spirit such as shall be 
adapted to its new conditions. His argument is framed with 
such ingenuity and urged with such vigor that we should be 


inclined to accept his conclusion if it were not for the fact that 
it appears to contradict the Bible. 


THe ConQuEROR OF DEATH. 419 


professing Christians are not spiritually-minded 
men. Having confessed Christ before men by 
uniting with his Church, they mind earthly 
things. Their affections have not been set on 
things above, where Christ sitteth at the right 
hand of God, but on things on the earth. Such 
nominal Christians seldom die in peace and 
hope, but often amid clouds of doubt and trem- 
bling fear. Others who have truly followed 
Christ have dreaded death all their life-time, but 
when the summons actually came they found 
themselves strangely supported by divine grace. 
Others, still, have suffered from some mental 
disease which filled them with despair even 
though they were the loyal disciples of the 
Saviour of sinners. These and other causes have 
obscured the sky to the eyes of certain saints in 
the last hour. These are exceptions. The effect 
of Christianity on death is, nevertheless, most 
glorious. The joy and peace and hope which 
cheered the early Christians in death became a 
powerful motive to induce those who witnessed 
their triumphs to become followers of their 
Master. For the sake of attaining this glorious 
end and finishing their course with joy thou- 
sands have abandoned paganism, atheism, and 


420 RELIGION FOR THE TIMES. 


infidelity, have gladly taken the spoiling of their 
goods, and suffered ceaseless and painful perse- 
cutions. 

The future reward of the disciples of Christ 
is indescribable. God has revealed somewhat of 
its splendor, yet the subject is involved in much 
obscurity. We know enough to lure us on to 
seize the prize, but not enough to gratify our 
curiosity or satisfy our eager longings. Here 
and there we see rifts in the clouds through 
which we may catch faint glimpses of the future 
home of the saints, but the vast expanse of that 
country, with its attractions, its institutions, its 
employments and delights, is hid from our view. 
That we shall be free from sin, from tempta- 
tion, from disease, from infirmities and faults, 
from death, and from all evil we are assured. 
“These are they which came out of great 
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
Therefore are they before the throne of God, 
and serve him day and night in his temple... . 
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any 
more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor 
any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst 
of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead 


Tue Conqueror OF Dratu. 421 


them unto living fountains of waters: and God 
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” 

That our knowledge shall be greatly enlarged, 
and our capacity for learning and opportunities 
of study vastly increased, there can be no doubt. 
That we shall be employed in some useful way 
according to our enlarged abilities we are cer- 
tainly to understand, for “they are all minister- 
ing spirits.” No weariness shall require sleep, no 
wasting and exhaustion demand recuperation, but, 
with immortal and unflagging energies, we shall 
serve the wise purposes of our Creator. The 
highest bliss of heaven will not consist in what we 
shall see and hear and possess and do, but rather 
in what we shall be. For Paul makes a bold 
comparison in this passage: “ For I reckon that 
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy 
to be compared with the glory which shall be re- 
vealed in us.” God, who manifests himself to 
his saints in life and in death, will be more 
clearly manifested after death, for “ we shall see 
him as he is.” These glimpses of the glory that 
shall follow death give to heaven the appearance 
of a home, and render it so attractive to the dis- 
ciples of Christ that it seems better “to depart.” 


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